The Preventers - Daybreak's Bell
by Qinlongfei
Summary: Nobita Nobi is an anti-social but normal boy in his second year middle school. His normal life gets turned upside down when he meets an old friend with a fuzzy white animal and discovers the world of Magical Girls. Now with a mysterious girl from future who calls herself Homura Akemi, the two of them need to face their own demons for the hope of a better future.
1. I met him in dream, not

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doraemon or Puella Magi Madoka Magica**

**Author's note: This story is an unofficial prequel/spin off of Dragonmaster870's 'The Preventers' story. After reading the story I become fascinated with the universe that story created, and thought I would write a story to complement its universe. While it is an unofficial 'prequel' that only set itself before Dragonmaster870's story but has no real plot connection (at least that's what I expect it at this point), I did get his/her blessing in writing this story.**

**I suggest anyone who happens to stumble into this story to go read Dragonmaster870's two Preventer stories. The Beginning Arc is one with very interesting idea but a bit... flawed execution, Retry Arc on the other hand is genuinely good although a bit short at this point.**

**As for my story, it continues form the infamous Doraemon's pessimistic ending where the entire franchise ends up being an imaginary dream in Nobita's head because he's dying from a mental illness (Kind of like The Tick's conspiracy theory). But he ends up having a miraculous recovery and his life goes on into this fanfic. Doraemon fans would probably notice some reference I have in this story, but hopefully those are not necessary to enjoy the story as a whole.**

**Hope my story can be entertaining to those who read it.**

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

_"Nobita-Kun, Nobita-Kun…" He hears a voice calling out him from far away. It sounds unfamiliar, yet rings with a feeling of rose tinted nostalgia. It calls back to a time when he is more innocent, where the most important thing in his life is hiding test paper from his mother, or avoids a savage beating from one of his best 'friend'._

_The image comes after... A round face, glowing with the same warmth of the voice even if all he sees is fragmented mosaic of blue and white. The one where he can take off the mask he builds for himself over the past 4 years… The one where he feels comfortable to be the scared, hapless little boy again... The he can always run to, and bail his eyes out as much as he wants._

_Yet at the same time, he knows this is not real. There's no such thing as a cat robot from 22nd century, coming back to the past to help him getting a better future. A future where he'll share with…_

_Stop._

_Thinking about that always makes him feel vulnerable and insecure._

"Nobita-Kun…" He slowly opens his eyes and stares at the surface of his desk. Nobita brings his head up to look at the student who is shaking him awake. "The day has ended."

"How long was I out again?" Nobita pushes his glasses up. He looks around and realizes the classroom is empty except for the long haired boy in front of him. Hidetoshi Dekisugi… there is once upon the time he proclaims this boy as his eternal rival. But right now… it hardly matters anymore.

"About twenty minutes. I'm always amazed at your special ability to sleep whenever you want, wherever you want. How do you manage to instantly pass out like someone flipped a switch after you hand your test paper to teacher?" The boy let out a chuck as he stands up and takes his bag. "You are coming to the study group with me?"

"Why not, I'm not as smart as you so I need all the help to stay in good grade." Nobita lets out a shrug as he stands up from his own seat and takes his bag.

"Don't sell yourself short Nobita-Kun; you are very smart when you put your mind to it. You did beat me in last test." The long haired boy pats Nobita on the shoulder with a warm smile before walking out of the classroom. Nobita stifles a yawn as he slings his bag over his shoulder and follows his friend out of their class…

Correction, his most friendly acquaintance, not quit 'friend' yet.

"Say, Nobita-Kun… Have you seen anyone from the old days?" The long haired boy stops in front of the study group. Before he opens the door, he looks at Nobita.

"…You know I don't see anyone from the 'old days'." Nobita shoots his 'most friendly acquaintance' a dirty look behind his glasses at the mention.

"Right… sorry, sorry..." The other boy lets out a shrug as he opens the door to the study group. The bunch of students already inside reading over their study material (or manga) all look up and sees the two newcomers.

"Alright, the 'sleeping prince' and the 'lady prince' are both here. We can begin our study session." A male student with light brown hair cheers behind his desk. Nobita notices he is one of the few students who are reading manga instead of study material. Then again, that's not unexpected out of the class clown of 2-B. The reason Hideo Nakazawa is in this study group is probably because he wants to copy homework from someone.

"Please don't call me something ridicules like 'lady prince' just because I have long hair, Nakazawa." Hidetoshi's eyes twitch as he tries to control his voice down. For all his effort, Hidetoshi sounds like he's letting out a low hissing.

Nobita recons being called girly is something Hidetoshi really does mind beneath his gentle nature. Although he does wonder if Hidetoshi hates it so much, why doesn't he just cut his hair shorter?

"The whole school calls you by that nickname. Besides, if you don't like it you should be a bit less bishounen looking. You put a lot of pressure on average Joes like me you know…"

_Bingo, Hideo has you in check._ Nobita thinks to himself.

"…or cut your hair short." Nakazawa gives Hidetoshi a shrug as he puts both of his feet on the desk with a smug grin and leans his chair backwards.

_And now he just check mated you…_

"He got you there, Dekisugi." Nobita looks at his 'most friendly acquaintance' with a bored look on his face. Hidetoshi gives Nobita a sheepish smile as he scratches his head. Decide to ignore the troll in the room; they walk towards two empty desks side by side.

Hidetoshi pulls out both chair for himself and Nobita and the two both sit down. Nobita notices the girl to his right steals a glance at him and then hang her head low with a blush on her cheeks. He vaguely remembers the light haired shy girl to be a student one year junior to him. He doesn't know her first name, and only remembers her last name being Saotome because it is the same as the mad doctor who invented Getter Robo in the anime.

"Now, if you open the study material to page ## and take the formula from X to Y…" Hidetoshi starts to take lead in the study group like a professional tutor as usual… Nobita lets out a genuine smile at this. No wonder in his imaginary dream he tries to make Hidetoshi broadcast a study tutor show, the boy is a natural at this…

If only some of the other stuff in that imaginary dream could have come true… but there's no point on thinking what could be. What happened has already happened, and he can do nothing other than accept them.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

"Take care, Nobita-Kun."

"You too, Dekisugi." Nobita puts on the headphone of his music player, hit the start button and listens to his favourite song from actress/singer Sumire Hoshino. He always likes her song since 4th grade, despite Sumire is better known for her acting career rather than her songs.

Maybe it's because he listened to her tale about waiting for a lost lover to return to her in his imaginary dream… Although he doubt the real Sumire Hoshino's life is as corny as that. It is just the day dream of a sickly 4th grader on what would be his death bed anyway.

Before long, Nobita notices he's turned a corner and arrives at a fairly new house. The architecture evoke a more modern high tech style compare to most of other houses that look like they are still stuck back in the 70s. Yet the reason he stops his step is not the architecture difference. Before this house is build, this empty lot is where he and his friends used to gather to play baseball, or just hang around in a Saturday afternoon. He still remember all the time he lays on top of the three cement pipes, basking under the warmth of grossly incandescent sun and drift to a blissful sleep.

Then he notices something else. On the other corner of the house stands a short girl maybe a year or two younger than him. With twin tails running down her shoulder, she might as well be the splitting image of one of Nobita's childhood friend…

The girl seems to notice Nobita too as she turns her head, and then her body to face him. She tilts her head, as if trying to search through her memory for Nobita's face. Then as if she's hit her Eureka moment, she waves her hand bag at Nobita. "Hey! You are Nobita, aren't you?"

"…Shizuka?" The girl responds to Nobita's question by throwing her hand bag right into his face. Nope, definitely not Shizuka... Since she is one of the gentlest people Nobita has ever known and will not resort to violent… Well, there's that one time she puts on a pair of Doraemon's super strength gloves and wrestled with a gorilla, but considers that's only a dream it never actually happened in real life.

Although Nobita has to admit seeing Shizuka wrestle with an angry gorilla that's three times bigger than her, and won is simply awesome. Even if she had Doraemon's 22nd century gadget to give her some edge...

"You dummy! It's me! Hanako Goda!" The girl runs in front of Nobita and picks up her hand bag.

"Oh, it's you Jaiko… I didn't even recognize you." Nobita is pretty sure his jaw just hit the pavement. Hanako 'Jaiko' Goda is not exactly a stranger to him. In his imaginary dream, the reason that blue robot cat from 22nd century comes into his life is stop his future of marrying her and then ends up in bankruptcy which in turn creates a crappy future for his descendent. Viewing through the magical lenses that are called 'hindsight'… Nobita has to admit he has a pretty weird mind back in 4th grade to imagine he has a future of marrying Jaiko…

But the Jaiko he remembers is a short, chubby girl who has the exact face as his gorilla like elder brother. The one standing in front of him looks about 1/3 of her original size… and hopefully not sounding too shallow: looks pretty cute if she's not giving him an extremely pissed off death glare right now. That is unusually to say the least, but then again… Nobita suppose he shouldn't dismiss the possibility Jaiko manage to lose most of her weights in the last 4 years. Consider Nobita completely changed himself in the span of four short years after all.

_Liposuction, pilled on top of a lots and lots of plastic surgeries, maybe?_

"What I meant to say is…You look great. I was completely stunned so that's why I didn't recognize you." Nobita scratches his cheek while trying to recover from his previous blunder.

"Obvious flattery will get you no where in life, Mister. But thank you for the compliment." Jaiko puffs out her chest with a satisfied smile on her face. "I haven't seen you in so long, you and my brother used to be such good friends."

_As good a friend as a cat and his mouse play toy…_ Nobita frowns at Jaiko's mention of Takeshi 'Gian' Goda. While it's true Gian is as close as a best friend Nobita has during his childhood, it's also no secret he's constantly bullied by the taller, bigger and much stronger undisputed king of playground. But that's more or less in a page of history book he already closes by this point. They don't even go to the same middle school anymore. "Yeah… we grow apart after we went to different middle school."

"Is it after middle school? I seem to remember you two stopped playing together after Shizuka's disappearance…" Jaiko taps her own face with her right index finger while thinking out loud.

Nobita's frown deepens at the mention of Shizuka's name. The girl he has been fascinated back in 4th grade to the point where most of his imaginary dream centers on changing his future so he'll marry her instead of Jaiko. Once again, viewing through hindsight it's pretty weird, even a little creepy. But looking back, Nobita is not sure if what he feels for Shizuka can be called 'love'. What does a 4th grader know about love anyways?

Still, when she vanishes without a trace three years ago everything changes. Although not everything turns for the worse, consider Shizuka's absence turns out to be the push to have him gain the determination to better himself in both study and athletics to turn from the hapless dweeb who can do nothing right into the 'sleeping prince' of his school.

Even if he can't share his future with Shizuka anymore like his imaginary dream…

"D'oh! Sorry, shouldn't have brought that up!" Jaiko suddenly realizes she brings up a very touché topic and quickly slams both of her palms together in front of her face to apologize. "Say, have you been to a shrine to pray for this year's fortune?"

"It's February… not the day of New Year. Anyways… nice to see you Jaiko, give my regard to your bro…" Nobita lets out a sigh as he stands up from pavement and pats away the dirt on his black middle school uniform. He is about to continue his way home but Jaiko suddenly grabs his wrist and starts to drag him alone.

He tries to shake free of Jaiko's iron grip but finds himself unable to. It seems even after all the effort the frail Nobita Nobi puts in to improve his physical strength, he is still outmatched by Goda family's superior natural prowess. "Fine, I'll come along with you to the shrine… so would you please stop dragging me?"

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

The Shinto Shrine is empty except for Nobita and Jaiko. It is to be expected, since it is way past New Year. Nobita doesn't mind the quiet and loneliness though. He remembers a quote from some anime character that 'man need to learn to appreciate loneliness', or some crap like that…

Both kids slip in some change into the shrine's donation box, and close their hands together in front of their face to prey. Nobita closes his eyes, and wishes for a peaceful, uneventful year like the last three. When he opens his eyes, he realizes Jaiko is no longer besides him. Nobita turns around and sees Jaiko running toward the back of the shrine. "Should you snoop around like that?"

"I'm just checking on Iyo-Chan, wait here for me." Jaiko waves Nobita off as she disappears around the corner.

Nobita lets out a defeated sigh as he turns back towards the shrine. He decides to take out his cell phone and call home to let his mother knows he'll be late for home, and ask his mother to feed his pet dog Peko and Ichi for him. But before he dials his home's number, the 14 years old notices something standing on the donation box of the shrine.

It's a small, white, fluffy creature that looks like some kind of cross breed between cat, rabbit and fox. It is currently sitting on top of the box on its hind legs, with its scarlet beady eyes staring into the void. The only thing that indicates it is alive is its tail constantly waving back and forth.

It's not the strangest creature, consider he has seen giant ball like panda that fly on its own breaking wind, or bees that can turn into human in his imaginary dream adventures. But he's pretty sure something like this doesn't exist in real life. Is this the spirit animal this shrine tribute or something?

_What was Dekisugi's advice on that kind of bizarre situation again? Right: __**Everything can be explained by SCIENCE!**__ Quickly, try to recite Pi, 3.1415926…_

_"Interesting, it appears you can see me and tap into my telepathy matrix. While it's not unheard of, boys who are so in tone with me are still rare. That being said, are you interested in signing a contract and become a magical boy?"_

_What the… did I just heard a voice in my head? I guess Pi doesn't cut it anymore; I need to recount undividable prime numbers to keep my fighting spirit high! 1, 3, 5, 7…_

_"If you want to apply what you humans call 'scientific term' to this situation, just think of me communicating you through telepathy as the wavelength of your soul is very in tone with mine. Kind of like how a radio can receive a broadcast."_

Nobita suddenly focuses his gaze on the white fluffy creature. The creature nods his head to indicate it is indeed him who is telepathically communicating with Nobita.

"Who or better yet, what the hecks are you?" Nobita bends over to look at the fluffy creature at eye level. He takes his hand out, and grabs each side of the creature's cheek and start to stretch them apart. The creature's body feels very elastic, like rubber band or something.

_"You can call me Kyubey." _The creature replies through his thought. Despite the fact his face is now being stretched three times wide, Kyubey doesn't seem to show any clear sign of discomfort or even annoyance. _"As for what I am…"_

Before Kyubey can continues, Nobita hears the sound of a loud shriek. Realizing it is the sound of Jaiko he throws Kyubey away (who accidentally ends up diving headfirst into a trash can) and bolts for the back of the shrine.

After about half a minute of running around aimlessly around the small Shinto Shrine, Nobita discovers Jaiko standing before the limb form of a girl not much older than her. She has short blue hair, wears a red headband that tie up like a pair of bunny ears on her head and a set of traditional shrine maiden cloth. Nobita quickly goes down to one knee and put his finger in front of the girl, she's not breathing and her body is cold. It's obvious the girl is dead, yet her body doesn't show any visible sign of decay.

"Iyo-Chan… no…" Jaiko's eye is full of tears as she wobbles around her feet and looks at the young girl's body.

"No visible sign of fatal wound… cause of death could be internal organ failures, maybe a heart attack?" Nobita puts his right hand under his chin and ponders how the girl met such an abrupt end in her youthful life. Even if her shrine maiden uniform covers more than 90% of her body, the lack of blood on her cloth and surrounding suggest she died of natural cause rather than a bloody murder. Of course, there's the possibility she has some kind of blunt wound underneath her cloth but Nobita is not about to look like a pervert and take off her cloth for a thorough examination.

"Let's call the cops and get out of here quickly Jaiko, if she's murdered there's a chance the criminal is still around…" Nobita takes out his cell phone out again and dial for police, but to his surprise he suddenly realizes there's no signal on his cell. He looks up again, and… "What the hell is going on?!"

Nobita is no longer in the backyard of a Shinto Shrine any longer. It looks like he's surrounded in the dark void of space with stars all around him like one of his many imaginary dream adventures. Only this time, it is not a dream, and there's no robot cat from 22nd century with his nifty gadget to bail Nobita out in the face of danger.

And to make matters even worse, Nobita and Jaiko are not alone. There are many origami figures dancing, and wobbling around them. The origami figures seems to notice the two kids who intrudes their home, as they suddenly brandishes thin blade made of paper and hobbles at the two kids.

_Shit! Those things look like they mean business and it's not illegal dinosaur smuggling either… it's times like this I regret not always carry my baseball bat around… or Japan's weapon control law isn't more lenient like America. I really wish I have a handgun to defend myself right now…_

_"That can be arranged… is having a handgun your wish to become a magical boy?"_ The fluffy white cat rabbit fox walks to Nobita from seemingly nowhere with a banana peel sitting on his head like a yellow wig.

_What? NO! STOP READING MY MIND FURBALL!_

_"So be it… although that familiar is getting awfully close to you… just saying."_ Kyubey tilt his head and shakes away the banana peel as he looks at Nobita.

"Wah…" Nobita turns around and realize one of the Origami figure is so close to him it almost bumps into Nobita's nose. And its paper blade is enlarging in his vision really fast. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH~"

Before Nobita meets his bitter end in the form of a paper cut the size of his head, a spear suddenly thrust into his field of vision and parries the paper blade away with a clear clunk sound. The blade of the spear looks like the tip of a pen, and it has thick bush of decoration mane under the blade like the style of Chinese spear. But unlike the red mane of Chinese style spear, this one's decoration is white.

Nobita quickly throws himself to the ground and rolls away. He gets up on his knees, and realizes the spear belongs to Jaiko, who is currently wearing a light yellow dress with red frilly decoration like something out of a magical girl show and an old style manga artist beret on her head.

"I… won't forgive you for what you did to Iyo-Chan!"


	2. No way is this legal

**I'd like to give major thanks toward redlerred7 for giving me valuable feedback on how to improve this chapter as well as my story in general. This chapter is edited following his/her advice, and I think it's much improved from my original chapter.**

**／人****◕ ‿‿ ◕****人****＼**

No matter how you slice it, Nobita Nobi is a normal boy in his early teen years. He may have taken part in space adventures, explored lost civilizations around the world, fought against an army of robot and an army of demons who wants to conquer Earth, and even played a part in establishing the tribe of pre-historic man which eventually becomes modern Japanese people.

But the thing is, those adventures all happened in his own mind when he developed a mental illness during the summer four years ago. He's pretty sure in real life, magic doesn't exist. Heck, it is the point of his adventure when he fought the army of demons: He uses Doraemon's [What if phone booth] to go into a parallel world where magic is well accepted instead of science.

Right now he is floating, or standing on some invisible platform within some outer space environment as countless stars shine brilliantly all over him. It is breathtakingly beautiful yet at the same time eerily dreadful at the same time. Nobita can't quite put his finger on why does it feel so wrong, or what feels so wrong. All he can think about is something like this shouldn't happen in real life.

The initial shock of almost being beheaded by a paper blade finally passes for Nobita. All he feels at the moment is bewilderment. He suppose he should do something, such as screaming at the top of his lung like he does a few moment earlier or start running away from those origami figures. However, the boy's body seem to actively plot against his brain's command to make some movement.

A loud clank sound draws Nobita's attention towards Jaiko as she blocks another sword strike aims at Nobita. She quickly skews the origami figure with her off hand spear and turn it into shred of snow flake sized paper bits while disappear into said snow storm. It is violent yet at the same time beautiful.

Jaiko's fighting style is very... fluid for the lack of a better term. She constantly moves and spins around on her feet while she waves around both of her arms and her spears, utilizing both of her weapon with a maximum efficiency. This almost feel like a dream, see Jaiko spins around those monsters while waving a dance of death with her twin spears - With Shizuka's face no less.

At this very moment Nobita is pretty convinced he is actually seeing a real life version of Magical Girl right in front of his eyes. That, or Jaiko turns out to be a closet case cosplayer who is also a martial art master in duel wielding short spears.

Second possibility doesn't explain how she's fighting an army of origami figures.

_I'm currently in some kind of an alternate dimension where there's nothing but a night sky with stars... And populated by origami figures. This is the craziest thing I... okay, maybe not as crazy as an entire civilization hiding in the cloud but still up there. Come to think of it... something like this fits into one of my dream adventure. 'Nobita and the Origami Killer Magical Girl', how's that for a title?_

_Stop thinking stupid thoughts and get your act together Nobita! Start looking at this from a scientific perspective. What's the most likely explanation?_

_I know! I must still be dreaming like all my other adventures and my real body is safely resting in the classroom waiting for the mock test to end. Well, this felt a bit longer than twenty minutes but so does all my other dream adventures. It felt like I was stuck in fourth grade for years and years like a limbo that I can't grow out of. When in the real world I was only hospitalized for one month...Which means I can do whatever I want!_

_"Self-denial is the most dangerous attitude when you are stuck in a Labyrinth, just so you know."_

_Are we endangered of being attacked by a swarm of sentient tin-plated killer robot who want to overthrow humanity and said Labyrinth threatens to collapse any moment?_

_"When you are being that specific... no."_

_Than we should be okay, plus Jaiko is handling the situation pretty well. She's not even suppose to be one of the main cast of my dream adventure team._

_"If you insist. Just to remind you, you can make a wish with me any time you want and help her out."_

Now that Nobita accepts this is just another one of his dream adventure, he begins to consider the possibility of actually being a Magical Boy. Is it like that time where he become a magical sword man in the dream world or take over the role of the hero from a fantasy movie he watched? That can actually be pretty fun as long as he doesn't get turn into a pile of ash or a stone statue by the big baddie again. Nobita just hope a frilly dress isn't a unisex dress code for both magical girl and magical boys. He's pretty sure Dekisugi would look better in a dress instead of himself.

He looks at Jaiko again, who is currently in the process of finishing off the last five origami figures. "Are you going to scientifically explain this phenomenon as well? Actually… I dare you to scientifically explain how 'MAGICAL' girls exist."

The Incubator's scarlet beady little eyes meets Nobita's chocolate orbs behind his round glasses as if he's silently telling Nobita: Challenge accepted. Nobita raises an eyebrow at this and briefly consider picking the stuff animal like Incubator up and stretch his cheek outward again.

_"Well… if you want to get technical about everything. Human seems to have this notion science and magic are opposite things which should contradict with one another's existence. But unless you are talking about narration magic where things happen 'because reasons', magic is just a different way which potential energy converted into kinetic energy where different effects take place. It follows its own set of rule just like human's modern science such as physics and chemistry. It is regarded as 'supernatural' or 'magical' because those principles seems to contradict with laws of physics or chemistry on a superficial level. As a result, you humans tend to dismiss them as mere superstitions when in truth it could be that principle of 'magic' is simply principles of physics and it's practical use which you human haven't discovered yet. Why, it isn't that long ago when majority of human consider what becomes modern science as practice of black magic…"_

"You know what? A winner is you, forget I asked…" Nobita let out a sigh as he shakes his head at the wall of exposition text the Incubator is currently spewing out of its mind with a perpetual smile on its face. The Incubator probably looks smug, if that's not the only expression his face seems to have. The truth is Kyubey lost him around the part where he talks something about potential and kinetic energy…

_"If you insist; I don't understand why human have such a hard time making up their mind though…"_ The Incubator tilts his head in a way one may describes as curious. A little distance away from the idling 14 years old boy and the Incubator, Jaiko just finishes putting down the last of the origami figures.

"You should really leave this Witch Barrier Nobita; you might get hurt when I fight it." Nobita's frown deepens. He knows Jaiko is trying to keep him safe. Yet, the implementation he would be useless in this kind of situation makes him feel sick no matter how true it is in practice. Besides, why should he chooses to leave when he knows he's not in any real danger?

_"Actually Hana, Nobita here has the potential to be a magical boy. So I'd suggest keep him around with you. If you get into a pitch, Nobita here can form a contract with me, become a magical boy and help you in the fight." _Kyubey walks up to Jaiko and jumps on her shoulder while look at Nobita.

"…Can somebody explain to me what is going on first? I mean… it's not like I go on world saving adventures on a regular basis or anything." _Except in my own head,_ Nobita adds inside his mind.

_"You have an interesting mind Nobita, I wonder if there's a tangential connection with your potential as a magical boy and your wild imagination."_

_I told you to stop reading my mind!_

_"Apologies... I got curious."_ The Incubator tilts his head once again, Nobita is not sure if the white fur ball taken his warning to heart or not.

"But the point is… what the hell is going on? The last time I seen you Jaiko you were still a normal girl… And now all of sudden you start to run around with fuzzy deadpan McGee and fighting Yokai for your life?"

_"Witches."_

"What?" Nobita look at Kyubey with a sharp stare. The lateral once again meet Nobita's chocolate orb with his own beady scarlet eyes.

_"The ones magical girls fight are not called Yokai, but witches. You see Nobita, all magical girls and magical boys are born from a wish they make with my kind. They fight the entity that's called Witch who is born through curses. If they don't fight Witches, the world will be filled with despair as they…"_ Kyubey looks like he's going to keep going with the exposition, but suddenly Nobita claps his hands together and interrupt his monologue.

"Stop, stop! Who come up with those names anyway?"

_"Well… they are just called Magical Girls and Witches… is there something wrong with the name?" _Kyubey tilts his head in a curious way and regard at Nobita, who is frowning harder and harder.

"Ok, maybe you don't know human history that well… but you see Kyubey. There was a period when human society actually had this thingy called 'Witch Hunt' where some douche bag murder, hang and burn innocent people – mostly women – who hold contradictory belief to the government and church. And since you said yourself most of your clients are girls, is it such a smart idea to associate their career objective which can be seen as offensive to women in general?"

"I'm not offended." Jaiko raises her hand skyward at the point Nobita brings up.

Nobita gives Jaiko a blank look before faces the Incubator and continues. "The point is… if you are going to enlist underage boys and girls to fight monsters, can't you come up with a less possibly offensive name for the monsters? Wouldn't you say the last thing you want is to piss off your clients and make them start a revolt?"

_"Hmm… I suppose you do have a point." _The Incubator almost looks stunned for a moment before scratching its own cheek with its front paw. But he obviously doesn't expect Nobita will continue.

"And while we are on the topic… is it even legal to form a 'contract' with underage girls and boys? I know you probably don't care about human legislations because magic. But what if you end up getting one of your clients into jail? Your client would ends up with a criminal record and a crappy future and then spread words to stop other possible client from forming contracts with you… There's a thing called word of mouth you know, and crappy customer service is one sure way to bring the business you run into complete ruin…"

Nobita continues his verbal bombardment on Kyubey for another twenty minutes or so. Jaiko starts to let out yawn of boredom but doesn't try to leave those two behind since it looks like Kyubey is seriously listening to Nobita's lecture.

_"…err…cannot compute…"_ The Incubator starts to wobble his head sideways and back before it suddenly takes a nose dive off Jaiko's shoulder and face plant into the invisible floor below. Its back bends forward, till the point its butt touches its head.

"Are you ok, Kyubey?" Jaiko bends down and start poking the fluffy cat rabbit fox with her finger. But Kyubey just lies perfectly still like he really is a stuff animal. "I think you fried Kyubey's brain, Nobita…"

When she looks up, she realizes Nobita is having a smug smile on his face and holding his fingers in a victory sign. "…you did that on purpose."

"What gave me away?" Nobita bends over and picks up Kyubey by eagle clawing his head. "Let's go, we have a witch to take down don't we?"

"Is it a good idea for Nobita to follow me though? With Kyubey gone you won't be able to contract and become a magical boy if there's danger."

"I'm sure he'll recover when the plot requires a Deus Ex Machina." Nobita waves his right hand which still having Kyubey's head in an eagle claw. The white cat rabbit fox's limb body dangles and wobbles all over the place like a ragdoll as Nobita flings his arm.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Nobita has to admit, when Kyubey mentioned the name 'Witch' he has a pretty defined imagination of what the enemy Jaiko would face look like: Something along the line of Margaret Hamilton with a lot of heavy makeup, pointy hat, black cloth and maybe a broomstick...

Needless to say he is a little surprised after Jaiko point out the upside down origami fortune teller rotating and shifting in the sky like a satellite is the Witch she's going to fight. Nobita can vaguely see a dark silhouette that looks like a small girl praying, or making origami figures on top of the white fortune teller.

"That's what a Witch look like?" Nobita raises an eyebrow as he looks back and forth between the moving Witch and Jaiko. "Interesting design choice… I surprised myself."

Jaiko blinks her eyes twice while cocking her head sideways, her yellow irises gives off Nobita a 'I have no clue what you just said' sense. "It's not important, I was expecting the Witches to look like something else."

"They all look different. But if you were thinking something like the wicked witch from the wizard of OZ… no, they never look like a human." Jaiko takes her twin spear out once again and goes into a fighting stance. "I heard Mangetsu-San say she encountered some humanoid Witches before, but they don't look like real human. They usually look completely... wrong, like some kind of abstract painting or twisted puppet vaguely shaped like a human."

Nobita feels like a hand is grabbing onto his stomach from the inside after hearing Jaiko's statement. He doesn't know why, but this whole aspect of how Witches look doesn't sit well with him. Trying to change the subject, he starts to shake Kyubey in front of his eyes like he's a sock puppet.

"You know Kyubey… You might want to consider renaming those thing 'Angels'… Because they look like they escaped from Evangelion's design book. Just saying…" Nobita holds up Kyubey's face to his eye level. The white cat rabbit fox doesn't respond in anyway. "Still out huh? Guess the situation isn't too dire yet."

"This is for Iyo-Chan!" Jaiko brings the tail ends of her twin spears together and gives them a twist. She forms the two short twin spears into a 3 meter long lance. She then charges at the Witch and launches herself into the sky using the lance as a pole. Jaiko spins around in the sky like a gymnast, and holds her lance out. The decoration mane flips forward and covers the spear tip making it look like a huge paint brush instead of a lance. "Divine Brush… Erase!"

Before Jaiko's brush can touch the Witch, it's origami buddy start to rapidly folding as if the silhouette is trying to tell a fortune. A seal of light appears right in front of Jaiko's brush and stop it in mid air. Electric sparks start to dance and shots off in every direction between their struggles. Eventually, Jaiko loses the struggle as she's repelled back into the invisible floor like a cannon ball.

"I'm sure this will hurt like hell…" Nobita let out a sigh as he opens up his arms to catch Jaiko. She hits him with the force of a minivan in the stomach as they both rolls on the ground for about ten meters before skits to a stop.

_What the hell... that really did hurt like a bitch! It feels like my whole body has been liquidized into jelly after all my joints get busted. It never hurts like this in my dream even that time I gets turned to ash, or that time I was slowly turning into a stone stature. Sure, I cried like a baby because I fear what may happen after I turn into stone, but it never hurts. _

_Could it be... this is actual real instead of a dream adventure in my head? But that is absurd... monsters, and magical girls can't exist in real world. They are just modern make belief... Something that happens in anime or manga, not real life._

_Aren't they?_

Unable to move a single muscle, Nobita only manage to look at the rotating Origami Witch in the sky. It continue to rotate without a care in the world, as if looking down on both Jaiko and himself with a condescending sneer. It may look something out of his dream adventure, but this is certainly not a dream or a nightmare for that matter.

This is really happening.

Nobita can see Jaiko runs up beside him. Her lips rapidly open and close like she's saying something to him. It comes out as a series of buzzing and ringing sound in Nobita's head.

Nobita whimpers as he tries to move. For all his effort, he only manages to twitch around uncontrolled from the pain of being Jaiko's human safety pad. He tries to give Jaiko a reassuring grin, but the pain makes it look like his mouth is trying to tear his own face apart.

For a moment, Jaiko's normally happy face turns into one of panic. The Magical Girl quickly takes out an oval shaped gem which shines a light yellow and holds it to Nobita's face. It glows in a soothing light and washes over Nobita like a sea of warm current. The glasses wearing boy find his pain recedes as he slowly regain the control of his body again. Jaiko's face look reassured as Nobita slowly rises up. "Healing magic."

Nobita tries to get to his feet like Jaiko, but his body still feels sore all over so he only manages to sit up. He looks up again, and realize the Origami fortune teller like witch is rapidly folding itself in and out once again.

"That Witch is doing something." Nobita looks up and realize the Origami Witch is folding its fortune teller once again. When it stops, a ray of concentrated light shoots out of its center and start to move towards Jaiko and Nobita. In the moment, all the second year middle school student can think about is how a skyscraper disappears into a pile of rubble under the giant alien robot Zanda Claus' laser beam. He doesn't need to actually get hit by that thing to realize it'll ruin his day even more. "We need to run!"

Easier said than done of course, consider Nobita's muscles still aches all over. The middle school boy can practically hear all his joint screaming back at him as he puts them under the stress. A strong need for survival pushes him forward, ignoring the pain shooting through his body as he quickly exceed his top speed when he's stealing bases. It almost feel nostalgic, like all the times he tries to outrun his 'friends' who want to give him a savage beating. Unlike all the times where he gets chased by Gian and Suneo, a black eye and bleeding nose is the last of his problem.

Good thing he's always been a fast runner when his own hide depends on it.

Jaiko is also running besides Nobita with no apparent difficulties. Still, Nobita can feel his back grow warmer and warmer till the heat stings through his thick jacket. At this point the boy realizes Origami Witch's death ray is gaining distance on them, and they can't outrun the threat.

Nobita turns toward Jaiko. "Let's split up and I'll act crazy to draw that Witch's attention, if that light follows me you can take the chance to jump up again and thwack its ass!"

Not a fool proof plan of course, but it's the best Nobita can improvise under such circumstance.

"No! I will protect Nobita!" A look of determination suddenly appears on Jaiko's face as she sharply turns spins around. She holds her giant brush lance with both hand and point it to her left before swing it right. "Divine Brush… Barrier!"

Nobita turns around as well. He sees a white screen of paint seem to appear as Jaiko swipes her brush forming a wall of white color moment before the death ray hit. The ray of light clashes with Jaiko's screen of paint and intense white light shines in Nobita's vision. He feels like the liquid in his eyes is burning up as him quickly closes his eyes and bring both of his arms in front of his face. Even with his eyelid tightly shut and his arms around his face, he still feels the brightness in his eyes.

Strong force pushes Nobita back as he struggles to maintain his Stance. The glasses wearing boy fails to do so as he loses his balance and hit the floor with a loud thud. He lowers his arm down as both the force and light disappear and look ahead, finding Jaiko on her knees and panting heavily.

"Jaiko!" Nobita runs to the 5th grader's side and puts one of his hands on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"… That took a lot…" Jaiko lets out a heavy breath as the gem she uses earlier to heal Nobita falls onto the ground and bounces away. Nobita notices the gem look cloudy with a shade of black in it. "…facing a Witch by myself without Mangetsu-San and Iyo-Chan's help turns out to be a bad idea… haha…"

"Don't talk, let's get out of here and fight it another day…" Nobita yanks Jaiko's arm up over his shoulder, but before they can run away the witch charges up another ray of light and sends it their way.

_Damn… coming to the shrine with Jaiko turns out to be one of the worst decisions I had… Now we'll both die… Have to think of something to at least get Jaiko to safety..._

Nobita quickly goes over his options. He can stand in front of Jaiko to try and shield her with his body, or he can try to throw Jaiko away from the light as far as he can. But he can't imagine she'll survive in either case. Before he can do anything or the ray of light fries them both, a dark silhouette suddenly jumps in front of him.

"Refraction." The dark figure with deep voice seems to hold a stick in front of Nobita and Jaiko. The voice sounds funny to Nobita, like he's trying to conceal his identity. Before everyone a large glass lens appears in front of all three. When the Witch's light attack meets the lens, it is refracted into six different rays and shoots away harmlessly away from Nobita, Jaiko and their mysterious saviour.

But the mysterious stranger is not finished yet. He holds up his stick again like it's a magical wand, and now Nobita realize it's a well decorated walking cane. "Compass Imprison."

A giant compass suddenly appears right on top of the Witch. It quickly draws a circle around the Origami Witch and a screen of light column descends from the compass, completely enclose the Witch inside its light.

"… #$%^&amp;*!" The Witch makes some strange otherworldly sound as it tries to ram out of the light prison. All it gets is its origami body burning up by the light.

The figures turns around to face Nobita and him finally manage to have a good look on this mysterious stranger. He wears a set of black tuxedo with white undershirt and a black top hat like one of those European gentlemen. In addition, he also has a black cape, white gloves and a white domino mask on his face.

The short version, he looks like a Tuxedo Mask Cosplayer for Sailor Moon franchise. The only thing that ruins this perfect replication is his golden crested walking cane in place of a red rose, and his shoulder long hair. "You two alright...?"

Nobita wonders if this is what Kyubey means when the rabbit cat offers to turn him into a Magical Boy.

Their saviour bends over and picks up Jaiko's healing magic gem and takes a black gem out of his pocket. He takes the black gem to Jaiko's yellow gem and draws away its black shade before handing it back to Jaiko. "You need to take better care of your Soul Gem. That's the most important thing to a magical girl."

"Thank you, Tuxedo-San." Nobita takes a look at Jaiko's face and realize she's blushing. To his surprise, he feels like his face burning up like when he sees Shizuka happily chatting with Dekisugi back in the old days. That is an absurd thing; consider he doesn't really like Jaiko in the same way as Shizuka. Is it because she looks so much like Shizuka now he's reminded of all the time she shows her affection toward Dekisugi?

"You are welcome young lady, we magical boy and magical girl need to work together. What do you say we bring this Witch down together?" Tuxedo Mask gives Jaiko a warm and gentleman-y smile before turning to face the Witch, who finally manage to shatter his compass prison by folding its origami fortune teller and emit a huge force wave.

"You bet!" Jaiko lets out a happy laughter as she gives the Magical Boy a nod. She jumps up once again using her spear as a pole and takes a quick swipe at the witch. The Origami Witch conjures up its barrier to stop Jaiko's attack as she screech pass its paper like body. The tuxedo wearing Magical Boy follows right after Jaiko as he holds the crane in the head and swipe its long body like a stick. The Witch leaves a loud shriek as the Magical Boy leaves a scar on its body.

"More durable than I thought." The Magical Boy lets out a soft murmur as he looks up, seeing the Witch folding itself once again. A burst of multiple beam shots out from its center towards different directions mainly aiming at the Magical Boy and Magical Girl duo. He quickly back flip out the way for harm but Jaiko doesn't have the luxury as she's still airborne.

The tuxedo wearing Magical boy immediately slide his hand down the body of his walking cane and point it up like a magical wand toward Jaiko mid flip. "Refraction."

A glass lens appear right in front of Jaiko once again and deflect the Witch's attack into multiple directions. "Young lady, you focus on the offence. I'll shield you from the Witch's attack with my lens."

"You got it!" A cocky smile appears on Jaiko's face as she leaps up to attack the Witch once again. The tuxedo wearing Magical Boy conjures up his glass lens up to create mid-air stepping stone as well as cover for the agile Magical Girl.

While the battle is going on, Nobita can't help but feel a dreading sense of uselessness. It's like grade school baseball all over again when his 'friends' only bring him along to fill the mandatory quota for players but don't let him do anything important. Of course, his 'friends' always put the blame of losing a game on him and reward him a savage beating.

Only this time it feels even worse. Consider Jaiko is fighting for their lives but he can only stand around like an idiot and not do anything helpful.

_There's got to be something I can do to help them… but I have no magic and I can only throw something at the witch to try and distract it… damn, all I have is my cloth on my back, my cell phone and my music player. I don't want to throw those two since breaking them will earn me a nagging marathon from mom and I really don't want to experience one of those again… there's got to be something I can use… I got it!_

Nobita suddenly notices the limb form of the still not recovered Kyubey lying around and he runs towards the white fluff ball. He quickly picks it up by its head and goes into a baseball pitcher's stance.

_I always wanted to try Gian's burning pitch… here goes nothing…_

"Hey, Asshat!" Nobita suddenly shouts at the Witch at the top of his lung. "Yippee ki-yay MOTHER FUCKER!"

He throws the Incubator with all his strength. The white fluffy cat rabbit fox darts at the Origami Witch with the force of a small missile…

And splats on the Witch's AT Field… " #$%^&amp;*!"

The Witch suddenly realize it takes the wrong priority in using its strongest defence against Nobita's projectile attack as Jaiko brings down her divine brush's erase attack. It tilts its body, using the Origami Fortune Teller to take Jaiko's attack head on and half of its fortune teller is instantly erased from existence. Still, it's better than letting Jaiko's strongest attack hit her main body on top…

Except Tuxedo Mask Cosplayer is currently diving toward her silhouette like body and bringing his walking cane down on its head? " #$%^&amp;*!"

"This is good night." Tuxedo Mask Cosplayer mutters under his breath as the golden top of his walking cane comes down on the Witch's head like Thor's hammer. It shatters what remains of the Witch and it slowly disintegrates like ash blowing in the wind.

As the Origami Witch starts to disappear from Nobita's view, he realizes the world around him is shattering. Before he can say something Jaiko runs to him, grabs him and drags him away till they hit grass on their feet. "I made it… before the barrier collapse…"

"That looks dangerous…" Nobita turns back and sees the presumable Tuxedo Mask Cosplayer emerges out right after them. For a second Nobita almost regret this guy isn't buried in that collapsing barrier or something. He immediately shakes his head at this kind of ill will at someone who just help saved his life.

_Such disgusting thoughts… how can I have it towards an innocent, human being who is just trying to be helpful in a life and death situation? I really should slap myself for it…_

_"Why would you feel there is a need to cause yourself harm? Shouldn't self-preservation be the first priority of any sentient being? I really don't understand human." _Nobita immediately turns his head and sees the white fluffy cat rabbit fox comes around the corner of the shrine.

"Kyubey? But I thought you got completely splattered on that Witch's force field…"

_"I got better."_ Nobita gives the cute creature an intense stare, unable to tell if he's being sarcastic or serious with his everlasting expressionless face. _"I should thank you for throwing me against the Witch Nobita. Switching to this new body turns out to be the fastest way to solve my central process melt down problem. But don't think you can easily disable me again using the same tactic next time…"_

"Oh well… worth a shot. I'll just troll you harder next time." Nobita gives Kyubey a shrug as he folds his arms behind the back of his head. He is feeling much better now that he has some fun banter with the Incubator.

"Alright, your Soul Gem is now clean again." Nobita turns around to look at Tuxedo Mask Cosplayer; who is handing back Jaiko her healing magic gem. "But to the victor goes the spoil. I got the last hit on the Witch, so her Grief Seed belongs to me."

"Ok, that's only fair Tuxedo-San. Thank you for cleaning my Soul Gem." Jaiko nods to Tuxedo Mask Cosplayer as she tries to grab his arm but fails. "What's your name?"

"You are very welcome young lady, and… Tuxedo-San is fine with me." The Cosplayer turns to look at Jaiko, tips his hat before jumping into the night sky and glide away like a giant bat with his cape.

"Show off…" Nobita shakes his head at the Cosplayer before looking at Jaiko, who has a sly smile on her face. "What?"

"Someone's jealous~" Jaiko says with a sing song voice. "But don't worry about Tuxedo-San Nobita. He's cool, but I already have my eyes set on Mote-San."

"That manga weirdy?" Jaiko's response to Nobita's remark is bringing her brush on his head. "Ouch…"

Nobita looks up at the moon which is now up in the sky. It turns out they spend a lots of time in the Witch's barrier. "It's getting late, I'll walk you home. I… won't feel right to make you go home alone at this hour."

"It's a little bit too late to change your image into a gentleman now you know…" Jaiko sticks out her tongue at Nobita, but then gives him a warm smile. "But thanks for the nice offer nonetheless, I'll take it."

_"I'm glad the two of you are working things out… but Hana. Don't easily give your Soul Gem to someone else. It is the most important thing to a Magical Girl, or Magical Boy. You shouldn't even put it into your family's hand."_ Kyubey jumps on Jaiko's shoulder once again as he tilt his head. _"And I advise you not to give another Grief Seed to that Tuxedo wearing Magical Boy in the future."_

"Why is that Kyubey? Tuxedo-San is nice to me, help me fight the Witch and even clean my Soul Gem with his own Grief Seed. Shouldn't we Magical Girls and Magical Boys work together?"

_"Yes… if he is a Magical Boy contracted by me. But the truth is; he is contracted by a rogue Incubator who use Witch's Grief Seed for his own end instead of dispose it properly. It can… cause lots of problem."_

Nobita shudders at Kyubey's cryptic message as he walks besides Jaiko towards her home while taking out his cell phone to call home like he initially planned before he gets entangled in this Witch Hunt mess. Still, he can't help but feel he's forgetting something important.


	3. Old life under bridge

Old life under bridge

Night blanket the quiet city as moon rises to the center of the sky. Nobita place both of his arms behind the back of his head as he loses himself in Sumire Hoshino's song once again. Listening to her songs under a full moon always puts him into a serene, if not quite happy mood.

Nobita lost his serene mood as a handbag slams on his face, knocking the brooding 2nd year middle school student over on his ass again. "What was that for…?"

"You didn't hear a single word I said did you?" Jaiko stands right in front of Nobita and looks down at the glasses wearing 2nd year with her hands on her waist.

"Sorry… I'm not really that good a listener." Nobita grabs Kyubey from the side and stretches his face sideways in front of Jaiko. Kyubey's face distort under Nobita's hand, resembles that of a distorted Cheshire cat. "Maybe you want to talk with Kyubey instead? He's a good listener."

_"Or maybe you can wish for a better attention span so you can be a better listener yourself?"_ Kyubey suggests as his face is once again stretched three times wide by Nobita.

"Let me think about it…" Nobita puts a hand under his chin like he's giving the idea a serious consideration. He then drops Kyubey like he's a bag of stone. "…How about 'NO'?"

_"Worth a shot..."_ Kyubey gets up and disappear around the corner.

"You are impossible!" Jaiko hit Nobita's head with her handbag again.

"That's going to leave a mark… What were you talking about again?" Nobita rubs his own forehead as he stands up from the pavement.

"I was asking what do you think about Mote-San's newest manga story. You still like manga like you did four years ago right?"

"Yeah, I do. Although… I don't find his manga that interesting. They are just stock shonen manga story where the protagonist is an underdog who turns out to be some 'chosen one' in the end and goes against the system for shits and giggles. There are some interesting story setting or mechanics in the story, but doesn't change the fact I saw that kind of plot done to death now." Nobita lets out a shrug and follows Jaiko.

"I like that short story about a new magical girl coming to turn with being a magical girl though. A magical girl deconstruction story where the story explores the burden and sadness of being a magical girl instead of the usual cuteness overload, that's an interesting idea. Too bad Jump axed that story before it can run its course since it didn't catch on in popularity… hey, are you okay Jaiko?" Nobita suddenly notices Jaiko stopping in front him and starts shaking like she's either trying to stop herself from burst out laughing or crying.

"I already told you obvious flattery will get you no where Mister!" Jaiko suddenly twist her body back and faces Nobita, the 2nd year notice some tear forming near the corner of her eyes.

"What? I'm not trying to flatter anyone…" Nobita gives Jaiko a dumbfounded look before he pieces the evidence together.

_If I remember correctly, that story was published by… 'Christine Goda'… oh I'm such an idiot._

"The author was you, wasn't it?" Nobita gets hit in the face by Jaiko's handbag once again.

"I have been using Christine Goda as my manga artist pen names for more than 4 years you big idiot!"

_Yep… totally deserves that one._

Nobita rubs his nose as he rubs his hand on Jaiko's head. Nobita doesn't realize this before since he barely sees anyone from the old days, but he has grown much taller since he is easily a head taller than Jaiko now. "Don't be sad because Jump axed you, there's still Sunday, or Ace… Your story telling may still be a big rough but you can improve. At least to me, a gem in the rough plot with poor execution is better than a generic story with great execution."

"Doesn't matter how much effort you put into your work, the manga world is a dog eat dog world where you either make the cut, or gets cut." A dark aura starts to rise from Jaiko, the way she says that line makes Nobita wants to bend his spin backwards.

_Why are you sounding like some orphan urchin talking about how to survive by scavenging food on the street…? If being a manga artist is that painful maybe you should just give up like I did in my imaginary dream… Come to think of it, I kind of wish I still has Doraemon's gadget to print a manga magazine. I really want to know how Jaiko's story ends…_

_ "That can be arranged, is starting a manga magazine publishing company, or making Hana's manga popular your wish?"_

_You are still here? For the record… HELL NO! AND GET OUT OF __**MY**__ HEAD! _And then all is silent. Nobita recon Kyubey has finally left, or decides to not agitate him anymore for the time being. He puffs out a sigh and walks besides Jaiko and rubs her head. "Look… I know it probably won't be much of a comfort to you… but do you still remember what happened four years ago when I tried to draw a manga? I became the laughing stock of all my friends."

"You mean that kindergartener scribble with a none existent story written by a mentally challenged chimpanzee? Yeah, that was fun laughing at your pitiful effort." Jaiko's face lightens up as she stiffens a chuckle.

"Yep, that's the one. I probably still has it stashed somewhere in my junk drawer. If you want I'll dig it up and give it to you, and whenever you start to think you don't have what it take to make the cut… just laugh at my pathetic excuse of a manga. That should give you some confident."

"Thanks, now I know why old brother love to pick on you whenever you guys play together... I guess making fun of you gives him more confident." Jaiko quickly wipes the corner of her eyes and gives Nobita a smile. Unfortunately this moment is completely ruined by someone who has trouble reading the mood.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here? A middle school boy having a date with his sweetheart...?" Five wannabe punks who all dyes their hair yellow lines up in front of Nobita and Jaiko. Nobita recognize their school uniform is that of the high school student from a local delinquent school. "How about this goggles, give us all the money you have, and we won't make you have a date with that lovely dumpster over there."

The leader of the punks, some idiot with a Mohawk hairstyle points his thumb toward the dumpster behind a small McDonald. It has the mixed smell of the sweet scents from the restaurant and decomposing garbage. Not pleasant to lie in it…

Nobita lets out another sigh. This day just keep getting better and better.

_Oh, there you are my friend 'Nobita's Daily Encounter No. 37: Getting mugged by a bunch of punks'. I was wondering where you went after all four years. It's time like this I'm glad I took some Judo lesson from Tomoe… But then again, those five guys are bigger and probably stronger than me too. I might be able to take on one or two… five of them at once? No way in hell… Got to be smart about this..._

Nobita opens his mouth while pointing toward behind the group of punks. "I'd be happy to give all my allowance to you fine gentlemen… but there's a very unhappy looking gorilla like person right behind you. I foresee an unpleasantness for all you gentlemen if you don't run away fast…"

"Ha! You think I'll fall for the oldest trick in the book? Well, I give you a chance; now prepare to be beaten to…" The punk leader grabs Nobita's collar as he prepare to introduce Nobita's face to his fist. But at the same instance, a bear paw like hand falls right on the punk leader's head, twist him backwards to face… a very unhappy looking gorilla like person about 190 centimetres tall and with a body looks more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than any Japanese teenager.

"Hi there..." The gorilla like person asks with a huge grin on his face. "What are you doing with my cute baby sister, and my friend connected by heart?"

"Goda from Kongo 2nd year…!" The punk leader lets out a shudder, but then he remembers he and his friends still has the gorilla like person out numbered five to one. "Get him boys!"

After about one minute of censorship due to extreme violence the body of five high school punks are stuffed in the dumpster behind McDonald.

_Or I can be a smartass about the situation. Yeah, that's right, that option works fine when Gian is here. You know…those two standing together reminds me of a certain sibling from a famous basketball manga…What's it called again... right, Slam dunk. _Nobita fixes his collar as he watches his childhood friend walks back from the dumpster. "Those punks are people you knew?"

"Small fries from some rival high school..." Takeshi 'Gian' Goda pats his hands as he puts a hand on Jaiko's shoulder with an affectionate smile. "Thanks for looking out for my baby sister."

"I'm not a baby anymore brother." Jaiko swats at Takeshi's arm, but he keeps his arm firm.

"You are always my baby sister." Takeshi gives Jaiko a grin, to which she respond by pouting out her face.

"Yeah… no problem... I'll just leave Jaiko with you and go home now…" Nobita turns around to head for home. Then the glasses wearing 2nd year middle school student realize Gian has an iron grip around his wrist as he's being dragged away. "You want me to go to your home and you are not taking 'no' for an answer."

"What gives me away?" Gian gives Nobita an inviting grin as he drags Nobita away. "Besides, Suneo is also at my home. It's like a re-union of the old gang after 4 years."

"Fine… I'll go with you so can you stop dragging me like I'm some kind of prisoner?" Nobita rubs his wrist as he look at the red mark.

_What is up with this sibling dragging people away against their wishes… but then again they are Gian and Jaiko, I really shouldn't be surprised. As for a re-union… it's not complete, not without Shizuka…_

Nobita shakes his head as he follows Gian and Jaiko toward their home.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Mrs. Goda looks like an Amazon warrior with a height over 180 cm and her muscle bond body. She has an inviting grin on her face just like her son when she sees Nobita. "Ah, it's Nobita. I haven't seen you for four years. How are your parents? As for you Takeshi… you should learn something from Nobita. His grade used to be even worse than you, but now he's top of his class."

"But, mom…" Gian didn't get to finish his sentence, as Mrs. Goda punches him so hard he ends up flattened on the wall like a wallpaper decoration.

"No back talk against your parent." Even though Mrs. Goda still has her smile, Nobita can sense the dark aura emitting from her. Gian gulps hard and nods his head, not saying anything. It seems after four years Gian is still deathly afraid of his harsh mother. "Now… Nobita, you go to Saigaku public right? I heard you got the best score in the last simulation test from the school board union."

"Yes Mrs. Goda… but it was just luck I got first place. Dekisugi was one point behind and he usually has better score than me in test anyways." Nobita gives Mrs. Goda a bow as he steps into Goda Resident after Gian and Jaiko.

"Well, I always say one need to make his own luck. After all, you won't get that one lucky point above Dekisugi if you didn't work hard everyday right? Hard working and humble is always a combination for success in life. Anyways, make yourself at home and you need to stay for dinner. Your old friend is here too." Mrs. Goda turns back into the kitchen as she shouts something at Gian for treating his guest with courtesy.

"Come on Nobita, let's go to my room." Gian manages to nudge himself out of the wall as he leads Nobita into the corridor. "You haven't seen Suneo for all those years too. He goes to Musashinomori Private by the way."

"That private school for all the rich kids and the school that kicked our own baseball team's ass in our first match last year huh? Can't say I'm surprised..." Nobita lets out a shrug as he waves goodbye to Jaiko while she enters her own room. He looks into Gian's room and sees a boy with long fridge hair covering the right side of his face and wearing the fancy uniform of Musashinomori Private Middle School.

The boy is a typical Japanese boy, and by that… it means he's extremely…

A hair suddenly jumps up from the boy's head as he glares dagger at Nobita. "You are thinking I'm short aren't you?"

_What is up with Suneo… is that an ahoga antenna with the ability to detect other people's thought… Oh well… at least now that his face has a little more meat he's no longer fox faced…_

"I'm asking: YOU ARE THINKING I'M SHORT AREN'T YOU!" Suneo jumps up from the tatami floor and run towards Nobita. The short second year stands on the tip of his toes and enter a staring contest with the glasses wearing boy. "Don't make me kick your ass again like four years ago!"

"Calm down Suneo. That's no way to treat your friend after all those years." Nobita raises an eyebrow as Gian holds back a screaming and kicking Suneo back away. From his memory (and his dream of all the misadventure he has with the mechanical cat robot from 22nd century) Gian is always the hot tempered one. Yet right now, Gian looks kind of responsible for a second year middle school student. Nobita wonders if that comes with the package of being Jaiko's older brother.

Nobita suppose he should say something to break the rather awkward moment. They used to be inseparable friends since four years ago; he should at least try and do something for old time's sake. Then again… saying they are friends might be a bit of a stretch, consider neither Gian nor Suneo were that friendly with himself back then. In fact, Nobita is not sure he's more than a hapless wiping boy for the two boys who are more physically competent (despite Suneo's relative short size he throw mean punches second only to Gian in their little circle) than himself.

It's not Nobita like being bullied: both Gian and Suneo are just company he's stuck with. Back then his only solace is Shizuka who stands up to Gian and Suneo for him…

_Stop it, no more thinking about Shizuka right now._

"So you are having a pretty good time in Saigaku I take it?" Nobita's attention is brought back by Gian.

"It's not bad. I get into less trouble with my mother now that my grades are good, plus I don't get yelled at by my teacher. And I'm taking some Judo lesson so I won't constantly get beaten to a pulp. Although I'm pretty sure you can still easily destroy me." Nobita looks at Gian's bulging muscles before giving him a shrug. "So… since we are all here and your mother did say you need to pick up on your studies… you guys want to have a study session together or something?"

The eyes of both Gian and Suneo bulge out, like they are about to fall out of their sockets. Suneo looks Nobita up and done before letting out a snort. "Ok buster… who the hell are you and what did you do to the real Nobita?"

"For the record, I get to be the snarky one." Nobita pushes his glasses up his nose at Suneo's remark. "And unless both of you know another guy whose name is also Nobita… I am him."

"It's just strange. Consider four years back you would never suggest having a study session. It's something like Dekisugi would do. You probably just want to talk about what anime or manga is popular at the time." Gian scratches his tilted head. That gesture reminds Nobita more of a gorilla.

"Four years are a long time, and for the record I still like anime and manga. I just watch them after I done my study and exercise. Not big deal." Nobita shrugs his shoulder, "By the way, what show is popular those days?"

"He seems legit, at least in that clueless loser in life way." Suneo looks at Gian and gives the same shrug. Nobita stares at Suneo in annoyance for a few seconds before throwing his hands upwards and give up. While Gian may be the one who beat the snot out of him the most during their youth, Suneo is always the one who knows how to really get under his skin. It isn't too hard considered how frail his ego really is...

"Ah, don't be too mean Suneo. We want to patch up our friendship with Nobita remember?" Gian scratches his head a little more before turning towards Nobita. "You aren't still mad at us now, are you?"

"What should I be mad for? The times you put my face into the dirt or Suneo shuns me from playing the newest game with you guys because 'it's three players only'? It's just boys being boys, and I'm not that petty to hold a grudge for all those years." Nobita raises one eyebrow as he fold his arms right in front of his chest. Gian and Suneo turns to look at each other for a second.

"You own me one thousand yan. He still holds a grudge at us." Suneo lets out a smug smile at Gian. His smile disappears quickly when Gian says he'll pay the money later… which effectively means never.

Nobita recon something never changes even if they all grow up. For example, Gian will always be a poor sport when it comes to betting.

"On a more serious note…" Suneo turns towards Nobita again, but before he can finish his sentence Mrs. Goda calls the boys for dinner.

"I don't suppose I can politely decline?" Nobita hesitate for a second before looking at Gian, who is currently making loud cracking noise with his knuckles.

"I'm not getting pasted into another wall by my mother. So you either eat my mother's cooking, or be in it." Gian may be having the biggest grin his large face can fit, but Nobita has no doubt he'll make good of his threat.

_Well… that figures…_

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Nobita can't remember the last time he had dinner at a friend's house. In fact, he's pretty sure he never had dinner in a friend's house. All the kids his age are just people he hangs around (or get beaten up by) with or occasionally pay a visit. Nobita peeks at Gian and Jaiko, who are currently fighting over the possession of a fried shrimp.

"Give me that last fried shrimp you dumb brother! You already have one in your plate!" Jaiko pout out her face again. Nobita can feel the calm and emotionless face he spend last four years building slowly crumble away at this sight. For some reason, Jaiko is looking more like Shizuka the more he looks at her; and that is wrong on so many levels...

Although right now Jaiko is certainly showing a different side than Shizuka. Nobita can't seem to recall she ever has that enraged pouting consider what a kind and gentle soul Shizuka was.

"I'll karate chopstick fight you for it, come at me with all you got." Gian smiles at his younger sister as he holds his chopsticks forward.

"You Are on!" Jaiko gives his brother a sly smile. That look somehow reminds Nobita of a snake and once again he feels it's just wrong. Regardless what the glasses wearing youth think, Jaiko jabs her pair of chopsticks forward like a lightening aiming for the ultimate prize...

Only having Gian raising his pair of chopsticks way above his head, to a height Jaiko can't reach even when she tiptoes on her feet.

"YOU ARE CHEATING BROTHER!" Jaiko throws her chopsticks into her plate as she pout at her brother once again.

"Ha ha... Sorry about at sis. Here, you can have mine." Gian robs his head apologetically with his free hand as he gives both fried shrimp to his sister. Jaiko begins to eat them with a content smile on her face. For a second Nobita wonders what it must be like to have a sister of his own. But then he remembers what a pain on his side his cry baby cousin is whenever she comes for a visit... and he decide it's probably better he's the only child in Nobi family.

"So Nobita..." Nobita holds his head up and looks at Mrs. Goda who is currently talking to him. "You are a good kid. I know my Takeshi isn't the nicest person... but can you continue being his friend? I know you'll be a very good influence to him."

"I'm not sure I can live up to the expectation..." Nobita's eye trails off to the side for a second, but he brings his eyes to look at Mrs. Goda again. "...But I'll do my best."

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

After the dinner, Nobita has a short study session with Gian and Suneo before leaving for his own home. Both Gian and Suneo walks with him out of the neighbourhood. "At some point you two need to stop following me you know."

"You need to get over it, Shizuka I mean." Suneo's sentence feels like sledgehammer on Nobita's chest. "You need to accept she's gone, and move on with your life."

"What do you think I'm doing for almost four years?" Nobita turns around sharply and glares at the shorter 2nd year middle school student. Suneo doesn't seem to be fazed in the least.

"Walk around in circles..." Suneo seems like he's about to continue berating Nobita, but Gian steps between the two.

"We can talk about this later, and Nobita..." For a moment, the giant who is known for blunting out whatever's on his mind seems to hesitate with what he wants to say. "Look Nobita... both Suneo and I are sorry for how we treated you back then. We know we screwed up badly when we bullied you back then... but we both consider you as our friend, and we don't want you to continue hating us..."

"All those things are just water under the bridge." Nobita turns around and let out a heavy sigh.

"What are 'those things', the times we bullied you, or our friendship?" Nobita can hear Suneo's voice, but he doesn't feel like answering it. Instead, he breaks into a jog and starts to gradually pick up speed towards his home. Eventually it turns into a fully sprint like he's being chased by one of the monsters in his dream adventures. Finally, he leans at a light pole, too exhausted to continue. Nobita looks back, and can't find Gian or Suneo.

_Were they ever my friend? All the memories I have with them... only the bad ones where they bullied me are real. All those adventures we go through where they stick out their necks for me are just in my head..._

_But they are all you had, isn't it?_

A familiar voice echoes in Nobita's head and he twist his who body back. "Doraemon?!"

There's nobody behind him, only an empty spot of white light shine down from a light pole. Nobita stares at the empty spot for a few minutes, he feels his eyes start to get wet. The 2nd year middle school student curses under his breath and takes off his glasses, wipes away his tears with his right arm.

His one true friend, who always make up with him even after the worst fight, the one who will always do his best to turn his life around for the better... is not real.

His other true friend, the one who always stands up for him against bullies, the one who always comfort him when he's sad... disappeared without a trace almost four years ago.

A man need to appreciate loneliness... and that's what he's trying to do for the past four years. Nobita shakes his head again, and starts jogging toward his home, not realizing a blue creature looking at him from the roof of a nearby building.


	4. Tuesday of my new life

**Author's Note: Consider this story is sort of an unofficial prequel to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I just thought it's kind of fun to fill in the supporting case with the parent generation of PMMM cast. Of course, since I didn't find too much information on them, I just went full crazy and starts to make up those information on my own (and filling in the manga archtype checklist with them as I go).**

**I don't think official information give Junko's maiden name before she married Madoka's dad, so I went with Ryugu 'Dragon Palace', because it is suspected from CD Drama she used to be a delinquent when she was young. And I decided since Madoka's last name has animal, I want to give her maiden name an animal so that's how I choose this last name (Plus I think it sounds pretty badass). And I intentionally makes her a bitter enemy to Sayaka &amp; Hitomi's mother, which is an idea I got after watching 'Ground Defence Force Mao-chan', where the three magical girl (well... not really, since they use alien technology like Mandarin) are good friends, but their granddad are bitter enemies.**

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Nobita lets out a loud yawn as he walks the road towards his school Saigaku Public. Last night after getting back home and playing with his two pet dogs a little, he ends up hitting the books again and studies till midnight before turning in. Apparently that's a bad idea, since he's feeling the fatigue from yesterday's craziness. But he really did need to hit the book, if not for the study then for the sole purpose of easing his mind.

He can't even begin to understand why he thought mathematics is so hard back four years ago. There's always only one correct answer in mathematics, unlike life where a lots of stuff are complicated.

"Last night was crazy huh?" Dekisugi pats Nobita on his shoulder.

Nobita rolls his eyes skyward, thinking back on all the crazy stuff that happened yesterday: Jaiko is a magical girl contracted by this white cat rabbit fox who calls himself Kyubey. They fought with a witch who doesn't look like anything of its name sake, and got saved by a Tuxedo Mask wannabe. And then he met his old 'friends' after more than three years... truly a crazy night to say the least. Although how does Dekisugi know about this...

"I studied for the math contest our school enrolled us in until mid-night. I'm going to feel tire for this whole day, and it's only on Tuesday no less." Dekisugi lets out a yawn like Nobita a few moments ago, breaking his perfect gentleman public image for a second. "I recon yours was similar?"

"Something like that..." Nobita stares at his most friendly acquaintance for ten solid second before nodding along. Something is better left unsaid, because Dekisugi would probably think he's finally gone banana balls if he tells the truth anyways.

They turns the corner to the street where Saigaku Public Middle School is located. Nobita notices far away in the distance a bunch of students is currently running wildly like they are being chased by a Kaiju... and a huge dust cloud fast approaching on a collision course at himself and Dekisugi. "So the dragon has left her den..."

A loud screech assaults Nobita and Dekisugi's ears as the dust cloud suddenly explodes in front of the two boys, revealing a girl with long messy hair on a battered bicycle. Her uniform is about as messy as her hair and with dirty all over it like she just fell into a ditch. Nobita also notices the girl even has a few buttons clipped on the wrong places. Junko Ryugu, also known as Junko the Dragon, one of the most famous (or infamous depends on who you ask) Sukeban who is most famous for being a bicycle speedster, who just so happens to be Nobita's classmate.

She's definitely the kind of girl Nobita has a very hard time dealing with... although saying that suggest he is good at dealing with other type of girls which isn't really the truth.

"What are you looking at, four eye frogger?" Junko glares at Nobita with an annoyed expression on her face, like she's ready to pound him into the pavement.

"Nothing... Nothing! I'm just amazed at how fast you are with a bike." Nobita holds up both of his hands in front of himself to show Junko he's not asking for trouble. It doesn't always work of course, but currently he's betting on someone who will take Junko's attention away from him.

A certain other kind of witch, come to think of it...

"Ryugu~!" The piercing voice of an extremely pissed teenage girl draws Junko (as well as everyone else's') attention away from Nobita. At this moment, standing in front of the school gate is a young girl about same age as Junko with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Unlike Junko's long, pale violet hair she has short blue hair, tied up with a very long headband that seems to fluster despite having no wind. The girl wears a set of neat Saigaku Public uniform with a wrist band that has the word 'Discipline Committee' written on it.

Junko lets out a very unlady like snort sound as soon as she hears the girl's voice.

"What do you want blue bird? I'm not breaking any school rules!" Junko turns to stare the girl with blue hair in the eyes, crossing her own arms across her chest just like the other girl.

"Your hair, and the way you dress is a strict violation of our honorable school's dress code! Rules and regulations are there to ensure all students' respectable behaviour, if you want to have long hair..." the girl with blue hair points at Dekisugi, who is practically glowing with his bishounen sparkles. "...at least properly wash it like Dekisugi here."

"Right, like anyone will fall over into a sharp stick if I don't dress properly. How I dress is my own damn business and if I want to come to this damn school like a hobo I should be allowed to do so!" Junko rolls her eyes at the blue head's accusation. "Well, I'm not doing anything about my hair or my cloth, and you can't make me!"

"If that's the case, than I won't let you pass through the school gate! You want to be seen as a street punk? Than stay on the street instead of in our respected school!" Junko's eyes narrow as the blue haired girls lays out her ultimatum. For a short moment, both girls leer at each other like a predator ready to prance on the prey, the tension is so thick Nobita swears he's seeing both girls' aura forming into a dragon, and wicked witch of the west.

"MMMMOOOORRRRTTTTAAAALLLL KKKKOOOOMMMMBBBBAAAATTTT~!" The tension is broken when a boy suddenly jumps into the space between Junko and the bluette and start to shout at the top of his lung like he's a video game announcer. Hideo Nakazawa is promptly clobbered by both girls and collapse on the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"You should totally seen this one coming." Nobita crouches down on his knees and sneak to the Hideo's side to pulls him out of the crossfire. He turns around and whispers to Dekisugi. "Let's take Nakazawa with us and make a break to the nurse's office. I don't want to ends up like him when the Dragon and the Witch duke it out."

"Good idea, as much as I denounce violence it's pointless to end up as a victim." Dekisugi turns to look at both girls before nodding alone.

To both boys surprise, Junko suddenly breaks off her confrontation with the blue haired girl and waves towards someone behind the other girl's back. "Oh, hey there Masahiro~!"

"What? Secretary Miki...?" A deep flash of red appears on the discipline squad member's face as she turns behind to look for the person Junko was waving to. To her surprise, nobody was there as Junko zips pass her with a loud 'Zink'.

"Ha, ha! Better luck next time Ichijou Hibari~!" Junko sticks her tongue out at Ichijou before disappearing into the front door of school building. A gust of wind blows pass the blue haired girl, Nobita could swear he sees a couple blade of yellow leaves flying pass the girl's face.

"Just a little curious Hibari-San... are you ever not going to fall for that trick?"

"Nobi... get out of my face before I lose my self-control and punch you in the gut..." Ichijou lets out a grunt through gritted teeth as she covers her face with both of her hands.

"Will do... Let's go Dekisugi." Nobita gives the depressed discipline squad member a quick nod before carrying Hideo away with Dekisugi.

The trip to the nurse's office is only a short detour before both boys arrives at their home room. Even as they walk in the corridor, their noses are assaulted by the strong scent of coffee beans. Then again, Nobita would be more surprised if that's not the case as he opens the door and sees Junko leaning back in her seat. Both of Junko's feet are on the desk as she sips black coffee from her bottle. Besides Junko, a girl with purple hair and turquoise eyes is happily chatting something to her as she just nods alone in the conversation, apparently doing a fine job ignoring everything the other girl is saying yet makes her think she is giving undivided attention.

The purple haired girl notices the door open as she waves at both Nobita and... more specifically Dekisugi. "Good morning, Ouji-San, Hime-San~!"

"Good morning, Yukiko." Dekisugi gives the girl his most perfect gentlemen-y smile and returns with a small wave of his own, but Nobita can clearly hear the shaking fear in his voice. "Although... I wish you don't call me Hime-San."

"Why not? It sounds cute." Yukiko gives Dekisugi a wink, which only makes him flinch.

As for Nobita himself... his brow twist together as he fights the urge to face palm himself. His life in Saigaku Middle school is a vast improvement over his grade school, but there are still elements that gives him a hard time. Needless to say, the overly cheerful and bubbly Yukiko is one of them. Granted, unlike Suneo and Gian, Yukiko gives him a hard time more through thoughtlessness rather than malice and that's probably a bit better.

Besides, Nobita doesn't get as much problem from Yukiko as Dekisugi, consider he is not bishounen enough for her to fly into a cuteness reaction frenzy and tries to stuff him into a dress and make up afterwards. The last time this happened to Dekisugi, he has to jump out the window of a three floor building to escape from a berserk Yukiko. He ends up landing face first into a flower garden when the tree branch he grabbed onto snapped in half. It is quite a spectacular sight to see the perfect gentleman Dekisugi ends up in a huge blunder like that.

Good times...

"So... Hime-San. Have you considered my proposal?" Yukiko runs in front of Dekisugi, with her eyes glistering with excitement. "I just saw this really cute frilly dress in that designer shop on the third street, it would really goes with your fair skin too..."

"That's nice... but you do realize I am still a man right?" Nobita has to fight the urge to laugh at his most friendly acquaintance's misfortune. Even if he no longer consider Dekisugi his mortal enemy, the chance to see him being pressured out of his perfect gentleman image still make Nobita's inner 4th grader giggle like a fat kid in a candy store.

"Yes, a man who look prettier in a dress than a suit. Come on Hime-San, you know only real men are secure enough to wear a dress..."

_Note to self: Never enters into a philosophical debate, or any debate with Yukiko, she will completely obliterate you with her very unconventional logic._

A loud clank draws Nobita's attention away from Dekisugi, he sees Junko gripping her bottle which is currently slammed onto her desk while giving one of her usual death stare at a green haired girl who sit two seats ahead on her left side. Said girl is almost a mirror opposite of Junko, who carries herself with the graceful posture gained only from the heritage of an old established upper class family. There is a... picnic basket setting on her table? As well as a full set of tea pot and tea cups.

_I shouldn't be too surprised consider the long feud between those two girls, but doesn't Shizuki think bringing a picnic basket to school is a bit of an overkill?_

"It is such a nice sensation to have some fresh made tea in the morning, the elegant scent of freshly brewed tea really take one's mind off the pitiful stench of that black liquid... Don't you agree? My dear Ryugu?"

"Like hell I would agree with you baldy." a cross shaped vein appears on the green haired girl's forehead... which is a little on the large side. But to call her a baldy... Nobita recons that's just being plain mean.

"Well... aren't we feeling a little feisty today. That's just the kind of unruly behaviour you should expect from the less sophisticated crowed I suppose. Alas, not everyone can be lucky enough to receive the best kind of education since youth I suppose. And being a Shizuki, I am obligated to forgive you for your rude behaviour." Despite looking like she's about to erupt like a metal tea pot heated to boiling point, the heir to Shizuki family Kasumi Shizuki still tries to keep her graceful public image.

"So in other word, you are getting the shit kicked out of you and limping away while whimpering: 'I'll let you win!' I think I would respect you a little more if you actually grows a backbone, baldy." A smug smile appears on Junko's face as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. They promptly enters into a death stare contest afterwards while most other students quickly buries themselves into their textbook for the fear of their own safety.

"Oh my. The age old battle between old world blue and new world misery has started again." Nobita feels a pressure on his shoulder and turns his head. He sees Yukiko pressing down his shoulder with her hand while having the other hand above her eyes.

"Aren't you going to do something to break them up? They been going at it for the last year, somebody should do something." Nobita raises an eyebrow at Yukiko. He suppose it's a bit hypocritical he's trying to make Yukiko does all the work while he just chills in the background with his own thumb up his ass...

Although in Nobita's defense... he's no masochist like Hideo and he is definitely not eager to donate his body to prove out of street brawl and Jujitsu, which is the more painful fighting style to be on the receiving end. Yukiko on the other hand is Junko's best friend, so chance is she won't find a fist in her face if she tries to break the fight between Junko and Kasumi.

"And interrupt their daily bonding session? I am quirky, not cruel." Yukiko sticks out her tongue at Nobita while giving him a wink. Nobita resist the urge to slap himself for contradicting his own mental note just a few moments ago.

At this moment the ring for the first class echoes around Saigaku middle school, but their teacher is nowhere in sight. Then again... this is also expected consider who their home room teacher is. Meanwhile, the 'daily bonding session' between Junko and Kasumi has degenerated into mindless bickering.

"You drink green piss!"

"You drink addictive med!"

"If that's your idea of womanly bond... I hate to see what's involved with an all out brawl." Nobita has a pretty good idea, although the mental image of seeing Junko and Kasumi pulling each other's hair out certainly won't be pretty. He shakes his head in defeat as he moves to his seat in the last row beside the window and hit the book once again, manage to block out all the commotion while immersing himself into the wonderful world of mathematics. It might be another ten minutes of longer, before he hears a screeching sound in the class room.

The glasses wearing middle school student holds his head up and sees a man in his mid thirties with full white hair covering his left face standing behind the podium. He checks the clock above the door and realizes it's a quarter after class started, it appears Kakashi sensei manages to set a new record at being late for his first class.

"Good morning class, sorry for being late. This morning I was..."

"...LOST MY WAY ON THE ROAD OF LIFE!" The whole class breaks out into laughter while completing their home room teacher's sentence for him.

"It seems like everyone is well informed... good!" Kakashi sensei lets out a relived sigh as he fixes his tie. His brown twist together when he realizes Hideo's seat is empty. "Did Nakazawa got knocked out again?"

Nobita takes a look at Junko, one of the culprit in Hideo's absence. She is currently pulling her own finger while humming some kind of random tone, trying her best to look completely innocent. "Yes, yes he did Kakashi sensei."

"That won't do... if that boy wants to continue to high school he really need to start improving his attendance rate." Nobita raises his eyebrow at Kakashi sensei's comment, consider he is always late for his first class in the morning.

_Does he has any right to say something like this, consider he's always late for his morning classes himself... For that matter, how does he manages to keep his job?_

"But then again... don't believe everything we adult tell you either. My parents always told me I'm only good for being a ninja assassin. I think I proved them wrong by becoming a middle school teacher. Although being a ninja assassin would certainly be a less stressful career aspect than a teacher so I guess the joke's on me. Let's see now... my teaching guide, today we delve into the wonderful world of..." Kakashi sensei shakes his head while pulls out a... scroll from his suit. The scroll hit the floor and rolls all the way to the back of the room as it unfold from Kakashi sensei's hand. "Ah! Science!"

He promptly throws his teaching guide scroll out of the window, which is conveniently open for some reason. Kakashi sensei then pulls a... red rubber ball out of his suit? How does he manage to fit all those stuff into his cloth?

"We are going to imitate the movement of electron with this ball, so pass this ball to your other class mates and don't drop it. The first person who drops the ball is responsible for buying or cooking snack for the entire class." He focuses his gaze at Junko, who suddenly looks very nervous. "Unless it's Ryugu, in which case we are all screwed."

"Why do you need to single me out Kakashi sensei! That's just mean!" Nobita raises his eye brown again when he sees Junko pout her face out at their teacher. Comparing Junko's usual tough girl personality with this side is actually... kind of cute.

"Well, I hate being unfair to my students... but I think I speak for everyone when I say this: Health and safety is the most important thing." Kakashi gives Junko a shrug as he throws the red ball to the students. "Here comes the electron."

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Nobita is having a dream, it is one of those really weird sensation where you know you aren't in the real physical world, yet you can't manipulate anything in your dream with your mind. Right now he seems to be a disfigured head, or a ghost floating in this dream world of his, reliving the Jaiko's encounter with that origami witch. Only this time, her image and Shizuka's image seem to fold together. Nobita screams out when Jaiko/Shizuka is incinerated by the witch's giant laser beam.

Just then he is wake up by Hideo's whining voice. "Why don't you do anything about Nobi falling asleep Kakashi Sensei? Isn't that just being unfair to me?"

_Did that clown got caught reading manga in class again?_

"Well, if I send him to stand in the corridor he'll just fall asleep standing up for one thing, and the fact he's still getting above 90 in all his test even when he doze off once or twice a week means he obviously has the study materials covered. My advice to you Nakazawa, if you find my teaching to be too boring, puts more effort into yourself study and get good grade." Nobita hears the groaning sound from Hideo as Kakashi Sensei makes his counter argument.

To be fair... Nobita really like Kakashi Sensei and his teaching method. He at least tries to come up with different ways to get his students entertained while still teaching them this current week's lesson. And he's probably one of the most lenient teacher this side of the globe consider he's fairly cool with you ignoring his lesson as long as your grades keep up.

"Well, that's all for today, and I'll see all of you kids tomorrow. Nobi, Nakazawa and Ryugu are on cleanup duty by the way, don't let discipline squad catch you guys slack off."

Before Nobita can fully awake he is pulled up by his collar. He opens his eyes to see Junko staring into his own soul with her death stare. "Nobi! I need to go somewhere! You take care of the clean up!"

"Ok, me and Nakazawa will..." Nobita blinks his eyes as he is throw into his seats once again. He looks around the classroom as he realizes Hideo is nowhere in sight. "Where is he anyways...?"

"Gone home, says he's still hang over from the sleeper punch he gets from Ryugu-San and Hibari-San. I'll stay and help you do the clean up though." Dekisugi turns back from his seat, Nobita realizes he still has his study material open.

"No need, I can finish it myself. You go home and study for the math contest next week." Nobita lets out a yawn and shrugs his shoulder. Being left alone to do the clean up duty sucks, but it's nothing he can't handle. Besides, the solidarity can give him a bit of more time to think over that horrible nightmare he just had.

"Are you sure about it Nobita-Kun?" Dekisugi starts to look concerned. For all his effort of keeping up with his gentleman public image, Dekisugi really is just a nice guy deep inside. Nobita can't even understand how he could harbor so much malice towards him four years ago just because he talks with Shizuka a lot. "Besides, you are also enrolled in the contest. Don't you also need to study?"

"Yeah, not the first time I got ditched by the rest of the crew. I think I'll manage. That, plus I don't have a reputation to keep like you." Well, to be fair he does have a reputation, for example: being the grade school student who got the most zeroes out of test, or been send to the most detentions. Although Nobita is not very eager in upholding those reputation.

"Well... if you say so. But don't be too hard on yourself. You would worry your mother sick if you ends up hospitalized again."

"And you aren't my mother, so stop being nagging me all the time and get out of here. I'll see you tomorrow in class ok?" Nobita waves to Dekisugi as his most friendly acquaintance leaves the class room. He lets out a soft sigh as he goes to pick up the broom, "Better get started here."

As he starts to sweep the room and tidying up the desks, Nobita starts to think over the dream he just had. Seeing Jaiko again after all those years probably brings out some bad feelings again. The fact she turns out to look almost like Shizuka didn't help either... but what bothers Nobita is how their image seems to merge together in his dream.

This magical girl thing is... unreal to say the least. Now that he has more time to put his mind to it, Nobita almost feels regret about not asking Kyubey more about what's going on. All he knows from last night is Kyubey turns girls (and boys) into magical wielding manga stock type to fight what he calls 'witches'. But what are witches anyway, are they some kind of super natural beings, aliens, or...

"Ahmm... excuse me..." A soft voice catches Nobita's attention as he looks up at the door, and sees a school girl one year younger than him standing in the door way look troubled. "Ahmm... if it's not too troubling... do you know where is Junko? Ryugu, Junko..."

A blush appears on the girl's face as she seems to avoid eye contact with Nobita. He tilts his head a little and takes a good look, realizing she is that timid Satome girl that goes to the same study group as Dekisugi. So it appears she is friend to Ryugu.

"She left in a hurry today, it's usual now that I think about it." Nobita puts his hand under his chin and start stroking. While it's true Junko is a tough Sukeban, she isn't the kind of mean spirited punk who would dump her duty to someone else for no good reason.

"What!? She left without me, that's so mean..." Satome looks to be in dismay for a second, but she quickly regains her composure and bows down to Nobita, "I'm sorry to have bothered you, Nobi-Senpai!"

"Is there something troubling you?" Nobita raises an eyebrow at this. The girl's bowing is so fast he's a little afraid she'll ends up face plant right into floor.

"No... it's quit alright. It's just I need to walk pass a bad school on my way home, so Junko and Yukiko usually accompany me. B-but I can take a longer route!"

_So she is afraid to get pick on by some stupid punks... But seriously, picking on a girl who's just 13 years old? That's just disturbing on all the level. Still, it's something I can relate to, consider all my 'adventures' trying to get back home from school._

"I can walk you home, if you don't mind wait a little for me to finish up here." Nobita says as he lines up another desk. That sentence is like flicking on a light switch, as Satome's face suddenly turns into a bright red, combining with her quite... round face she looks like a rip apple.

Nobita has to admit, that also looks kind of cute.

"W-Wha... No, I can't impose. Senpai's home is on the opposite direction..." Nobita turns to look at Satome again, who is currently covering her mouth with both hands.

_I really hope she's not a professional stalker... but then again, I don't think I'm such a big man on campus to get a stalker. Maybe Dekisugi, definitely not me._

Nobita lets out a shrug as he resumes his clean up duty. "I can use more exercise."

He raises his eyebrow again when Satome runs to the other side of the class and start to lining up desks herself. She gives Nobita a nervous looking smile. "Well... it's only fair I help out Senpai do the clean up if Senpai is going to walk me home."

"Quite unnecessary... but thanks." Tidying up his classroom becomes much faster now that Nobita has a little helper. After they finishes, he walks to his desk to sling on his bag as Satome waits for him at the door with yet another blush. For a few seconds, she almost look like she's walking on cloud as they both exist room 2-B. But then a blur in the corridor knocks her on her butt with a loud 'eek!'.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention where I was going." The person turns back and offers a hand to help Satome stand up. She is a somewhat plain looking girl with black hair in a short style that makes her look more like a boy than a girl. Although Nobita doesn't think she is some kind of a tomboy, consider she wears a light pink one-piece dress, as well as a spade shaped golden locket with a green gem at the center. By the way she dress, Nobita has a hard time believe she is the person who violently knocks Satome over.

Nobita recalls himself seeing her a couple of times in the study group, though not as much as Satome consider she's always there whenever he bothers to show up. Although he can't seem to recall her name, and only remember she's one year senior than himself and Dekisugi.

"N-no, I should also be a bit more careful." Satome gives the senior girl a smile as she takes her hand and stands up.

"Sorry to leave you like this, but I really need to be some place fast. You are Kazuko Satome from first year right? Seen you hang around with Ryugu and Keishoutto. Tell you what, next time when I'm not busy, I'll treat you to Pantasia's melon bread, it's simply out of this world. I'll see you later ok?" And with that comment, the third year girl dashes away with a blur like she's a pink sonic the hedgehog. It leave both Nobita and Kazuko scratching their head what could be the big hurry consider she's obviously stayed after school is finished.

"Now I see why you need escort to go home, you are second most person who naturally attract disaster when returning home from school." Nobita lets out a soft sigh as he turns to look at Kazuko, who is currently shaking like she's about to cry.

"Geez, that was just a light hearted remark, don't take it so seriously okay? In fact, you know who has even worst luck going home than you? ME! When I was 10, there's not a single day I don't get hit by a car, bitten by a dog, fall into a ditch, or getting beaten to a pulp by some school yard bully, sometimes all of the above."

"Th-that can't be true. You are just making it up, right? Senpai?"

"Wish I was, with that long unlucky stroke you'd think someone pasted a 'punch me' sign on my back every day. But it got better now, guess the phrase 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' is true after all." With that comment Nobita flashes his next to non-existent bicep muscle like he's a bodybuilder, that gesture makes Kazuko giggles out loud before she quickly covers up her mouth once again.

"You should laugh more often, you look cute when you laugh." Well... to be fair when Kazuko look nervous she also look cute. It rather comes with the territory of being the 'adorable cute girl' type, but Nobita just thinks she should be a bit more confident. He didn't need to look back to know Kazuko is furiously blush again as they leaves the school hallway.


	5. Comfort me with beautiful lies

**The Wolf Witch's Minion. Their duty is to be her prey. Above all else the Wolf Witch hates lies, and the essence of liar takes the form of a white rabbit forever wanders in her barrier, being torn to shred over and over again to sooth her anger.**

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

She opens her eyes once again and prepare to greet the white hospital ceiling for the hundreds time... She lets out a soft sigh. Another cycle, another failure. It seems as it continues, it becomes harder and harder to save her friend, even when she has outside help...

Sometimes she wonders how many more times can she continues on, before she inevitably fall into despair and join all the other magical girls in their tragic fate. She quickly puts that thought into the back corner of her mind, thoughts like that is an one way ticket to despair, a fate worse than death for all magical girls.

Then she realizes something: What comes into her sight is not the usual white ceiling of the hospital, but a brilliant night sky filled with stars. She quickly start to look around her surrounding, and finds she's lying face up in some construction site. Then she realizes something else: She's wearing her Mitakihara Middle School uniform instead of her patient gown, and she can see things clearly despite not wearing her glasses...

She sits up and reaches behind her head, feeling her loose raven hair instead of her twin braid, and the lack of a familiar pain in her chest.

That's when she starts to panic. Funny how after you have gone through a routine for over a hundred times and then you are shoved into a new setting you loses all your composure.

_Ok, calm down Homura, this is not the first time you enter into an alternate timeline that throws you curve ball. Maybe in this timeline, I was already a magical girl and this is just after one of my routine patrol..._

Homura Akemi, the stoic time travelling magical girl musters all her willpower to shakes her free from a complete mental break down. She takes a deep breath before she transforms into her magical girl form and jumps up to the tallest part of the construction site, trying to find some familiar landmark to confirm her suspension.

To her dismay, she finds herself in a completely unfamiliar setting. Instead of the futuristic skyscrapers of Mitakihara, she mostly sees one to two floor houses and a few apartment. In the distance, she can see some cluster of taller building with bright neon signs, but the style look much older with concrete, rather than glasses and metal making up the majority of the building.

And here comes mental break down number two...

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Nobita's face hit the surface of his desk. It feels cold to the his cheeks, but he doesn't care. All of sudden he seems to have trouble breathing with excruciating pain, as if someone brings down a sledgehammer to his chest.

He is just doing what he does the most to pass his evening time: Immersing himself into the 'wonderful' world of number and equations when he has a panic attack. He can't figure out why this outburst of stress suddenly overwhelms him. Can it be the nightmare he has this afternoon, the one where he sees Jaiko/Shizuka killed by the Origami Witch, which he manages to shove into the back of his mind finally decide to resurface?

The dream is mostly a blur in his mind at this point. Nobita is at the point where he can't even tell if the girl he sees in his dream is Jaiko or Shizuka. All he can recall is their image seems to fade in and out as they are engulfed by the brilliant light beam shot out by the Origami Witch.

Regardless of the reason, he needs to find something else to do before his mind dissolves into a complete breakdown. He throws on his scarf and grabs his jacket as he runs down the stairs of his home to go for a short jog around the neighborhood.

"Didn't you already taken Peko and Ichi for a walk, Nobita?" His mother's voice calls out from living room, masking out the TV show his parents are watching now.

"I feels like taking a short jog Mama, don't worry, I'll be home in an hour or so." Nobita says as he quickly runs pass the door and kick on his shoes.

"Alright Nobita, just avoid the bad neighborhood and don't get into trouble..." His mother's voice start to disappear as Nobita burst through the front door and shut it behind of him. The air is still cold this time of the year, but it helps him breath amidst his panic induced mind. He tries to keep his mind clear without much thought as he picks up speed and round another corner.

Around said corner, he realizes something else he often overlook when he jogs around this area. Another place from his old memory that places a huge part: A corner store that sells Dorayaki. The shop is boarded up, indicating it is already closed down.

_Come to think of it... Hideo mentioned something about the old lady that runs this store has passed away this winter. Such a pity... I used to come here and buy her Dorayaki all the time..._

_Wait a minute... why did I come here and buy her Dorayaki in the first place? It's not something I enjoy to the point I can't live without it for a month. In my dream, I come here to purchase it for Doraemon, but he doesn't exist in this real world. Is it another part where my dream starts to bleed into my real memory, or did I forget something very important..._

_Ah... all those scattered thoughts... I am so confused!_

Nobita feels light headed all of sudden, so he leans against a wall and closes his eyes to rest a little. That's when he feels something is nudging against his foot. "Kyu?"

At first, he thinks it might be Kyubey coming back to invade his privacy again. But the sound certainly didn't sounds like the articulating and emotionless white fur ball. He opens his eyes to look down, and sees what appears to be a cartoonish white rabbit rubbing its face at his leg. Interestingly, the rabbit also has red beady eyes and a persistent smile just like Kyubey. "Kyu!"

The white rabbit with Kyubey's head seems confused for a second as it tilt it's head. It then runs away towards a construction site in the distance. Before Nobita gets a clear understanding of what happened he sees a shadow fly over himself. Looking up, the glasses wearing boy sees a figure gliding through the air with the gracefulness of an accomplished ballerina. Even if he didn't catch a particularly good look, Nobita can still tell it is a magical girl from her skirt flapping in the wind.

Well... unless Magical Boys also wear a dress, consider the only Magical Boy Nobita sees at this point is that Tuxedo Mask wannabe.

Is it Jaiko? Or some other Magical Girl he hasn't meet yet. Nobita supposes it doesn't matter. She is heading towards that construction site the white Kyubey rabbit is running towards. It looks ominous in darkness, like an abandoned castle with monsters lurking in every shadow. But Nobita feels an urge to push him on forward and go after the Magical Girl.

_This is such a dumb decision... Once again I'm chasing after a Magical Girl into Kami knows what without even a baseball bat to defend myself. My ten years old self would have run towards the opposite direction with his tail between his legs at this point... but here's hoping a spooky looking construction site doesn't qualify as 'bad neighborhood' or my mother will nag my ears off again..._

Nobita's thought comes to a close as he reaches the foot of his destination, and he realizes it is less of a construction site and more of an abandoned building that's half finished. The majority of the building seems to be finished, despite still being covered with plastic sheets. If this abandoned building looks creepy in the distance... let's just say it doesn't improve in the slightest now Nobita is near the foot. He swallows a mouthful of saliva hard, and goes down into a half crouch hoping to blend into the shadow and not gets noticed by whatever that could be hiding near the next corner and goes inside the building.

The inside of the building is exactly like how Nobita imagines, white concrete wall still not furnished with wall paper or paint. His breath gets heavier, as this detour from his usual jogging route has essentially turns into a summer bravery contest. Nobita starts to search around the first floor... and moves to the second when he fails to find anything notable.

It takes about another quarter of an hour when Nobita moves to third floor before he suddenly feels the air around him seems to feel dense, and colder too. He looks up, and almost forget to breath as his chest quickly tightens. Hanging from the roof, hundreds of bodies both old and young is hanging there lifeless.

Even if Nobita only hears about them between the gossip of the nosier kids in the school, he can still tell this is a suicide hot spot. "Well, well, well... what do we have here? Another lost soul, here to join my flock in their eternal salvation?"

The female voice sounds almost sultry, but it makes all the hair on Nobita's body jumps on their end. As for Nobita himself... he falls to his hands and feet as his knees give in. He quickly turns around on his ass, and sees a girl standing below him on the staircase between 3rd and 2nd floor. Nobita doesn't know when or even how she sneaks behind him, consider he searched all the floors below. The girl wears a set of black dress with white frill and grey marking, and a hood with matching color scheme that almost makes her look like a nun.

"Are you afraid of me, you poor thing? Don't be afraid, for very soon you will be saved from this cruel world..." Nobita quickly backs away with his hands and feet as the (presumably) unknown Magical Girl starts to walk towards him. Nobita isn't exactly what one can call a real life Magical Girl expert, consider he just learns of their existence yesterday, but even he can tell there's something very wrong with this (presumably) Magical Girl.

She looks more like some character you will find in the rogues gallery of a Magical Girl show, rather than an actual embodiment of hope and dream for younger girls and lolicons everywhere. And her voice... while her voice has an inviting vibe, sounds more like some kind of drug that makes Nobita feel numb.

_Shit, shit, shit... SHIT! Following an unknown Magical Girl really is as bad an idea as I first thought. I got to run away fast! Got to pull a Dekisugi and jump off the building!_

Nobita swallows hard again, as he scrambles to his feet and starts to run towards one of the window on the other side. He doesn't know what he'll do once he jumps off third floor, but something tells him even falling to his death is a more preferable compare to the alternative.

"What is the same thing Kami-Sama grant to all of us? Both rich and poor, young and old, beautiful and ugly? It is death, and through death all of us will be set free from our pain."

Nobita suddenly feels something tightens around his neck as he's being dragged flying backwards and crash onto the concrete floor. For a second he wonder if the force alone has snapped his neck. The excruciating pain from his back kicks in that makes him realize he is still alive. Although this seems like a temporary state if the way this mad Magical Girl talk is a good indication.

"We are all bound by pain as we live in this ugly world. I can see the same kind of pain deep within your eyes... Let me share it, and then grant you the salvation to be free from pain." The unknown Magical Girl slowly drags his body across the floor towards her with the rope lasso. Nobita's eye widens as he sees the girl extend out her left hand.

The center of the girl's palm is bleeding, from what seems like a cross shaped wound. "Let me see... your deepest pain."

_ShitshitshitshitShitShitShitShitSHITSHIT! Don't... don't make me remember..._

_Please..._

The Magical Girl in black dress puts her palm on Nobita's forehead as he lets out an ear piercing scream, not unlike the sound a pig makes when it is being slaughtered. Her blood feels hot, in fact Nobita feels like it's burning through his skin, and skull till it burns right through his brain.

And then... everything begins to turn black till the dark fog clears. When Nobita regains his vision, he notices the thing he is currently looking at is the grey pavement. It's something he must have seen thousands of times, consider how many times Gian used to make him eat the floor. It does feel different this time though.

"Pathetic..." The sneering taunt comes from a voice that's unfamiliar to Nobita. He looks up and see a man in fox mask staring down at him. Behind the man, Shizuka is wearing a frilly dress, way too fancy than the clothing she used to wear. Now that Nobita has seen a couple of real life Magical Girls, he realize Shizuka must also be one of them four years ago.

She is being tied up by a white rope, like the one Shinto Priest use to create a barrier. The man in fox mask holds the end of the rope.

_This is... what happened four years ago. The thing I tried so hard to block out of my own head... That's right, Shizuka didn't just disappear out of thin air. She was taken away by this man, and I tried to forget it because I couldn't stop it from happening..._

That's when Nobita realize his body is on autopilot as he seems to be trying to get up. Or more precisely, his 10 years old body which his mind currently seem to inhabit. Like in his memory, he is stomped down on the head by the man in fox mask.

"...man are determined by their strength, those who lack strength does not have the right to say 'I care about someone'." There is a certain sense of arrogance and superiority within the man's voice which even his ten years old self can tell. But now Nobita is reliving this memory, he feels like he's catching a glimpse of... something else. Although such feeling is faint and swift, which makes Nobita wonder if him question his own sense.

"Please, stop this cruelty." He hears Shizuka's voice pleading at the man in fox mask. "I will go with you, just... give me a minute to say goodbye."

"NO! Don't go with this bastar- ARGH!" Ten years old Nobita tries to change his friend's decision, and is once again stomped into the pavement for his effort.

"What do you propose for your precious little friend then? Staying with you? You are so weak and worthless, you only serve as her burden. She'll at least be useful for me when she comes with me." The man in fox mask lets out a maniac laugh afterwards before regaining his composure and walks away with his back turned against Nobita as if he's disgusted to look at the young boy. "You have a minute."

_That man... or is it a boy? His voice fluctuate between high and low pitch I can't even tell. But that's right... I wanted to forget because I was completely useless. This bastard taken away my best friend like it is nothing, yet I didn't even know who he is._

"...Shizuka..." Nobita's sight is all blurry, partially due to his glasses being knocked away, and partially due to blood getting into his eyes.

"Nobita, take care yourself from now on. Finish your homework everyday... and try to be stronger..." Nobita can feel Shizuka gently holding his head as she gives him a warm and reassuring smile. She holds out her little finger at Nobita. "...And we'll meet again. That's my promise to you."

_It is a lie... she already knew this is farewell, but she doesn't want me to give up hope of having a better life. She is still worried about me, even when something like this happens to her..._

_This is why I have such a hard time letting you go even when I know I won't see you again._

"I promise you... I'll finish my homework from now on... and I'll be stronger, braver too..." Nobita's eye sight become even more distorted, is it due to blood, or something else? Regardless of the reason, he extend out his own pinky finger and hook it to Shizuka's. They shake their hands for a short while, before Shizuka is pulled away by the man in fox mask, slowly disappearing in Nobita's sight.

_I was so useless..._

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

"Oh... you poor thing... having one of your most precious person forcibly taken away from you like this. Surely such cruel fate shouldn't happen to anyone." When Nobita regains his senses, he realize his head is resting on the nameless Magical Girl's lap. Her voice sounds kind and compassionate as she gently runs her hand through Nobita's hair like a mother trying to comfort her own son. And for a second, Nobita sees tear running in her eyes.

_Why is this insane Magical Girl look so sad all of sudden? Could it be... she also has someone dear taken away from her?_

"But you need not to feel such pain anymore... for we will all be set free, by our death!" Suddenly, the madness returns to the girl's eyes as she suddenly pulls the rope in her hand, dragging Nobita's body from floor into air as the rope around his neck hangs on one of the supporting beam in the ceiling. "...May you find your dear Shizuka in death."

Nobita's tries to hold onto the nook around his neck as his legs starts to kick around. He can feel the rope tightens around and he is losing air fast. All he can think right now is he doesn't want to die. He may not be able to see Shizuka again, but he certainly doesn't want to die like this.

At very least, not when he doesn't even know the identity of the fox masked bastard who taken Shizuka away. In his panic, he seems to hear something echoes around him.

**Flèche D'Argent**

The pressure around his neck suddenly disappears as Nobita falls down to his butt. He lets in a few heavy breath, trying to regain his composure while he slouches on the floor. Through all of this, he hears a sound coming from the staircase.

"Please stop this madness Kurokami-san! Aren't you the one who taught me Magical Girls should help others, not harm them?"

Nobita looks toward the staircase and sees another Magical Girl standing in front of it. She wears a set of long white boots, a light pink one piece dress with skirt shaped like cherry blossom. The girl has a giant pink round shaped bowtie behind her head, which makes her look like a cartoon mouse. She is currently holding a silver sword that has smoke rising from its tip which seems to be pointing towards the Magical Girl in black's direction.

As Nobita start to catch his breath, he realize this new Magical Girl looks familiar. She has a somewhat plain looking face and a raven hair in a short style that makes her look more like a boy...

This is the same girl who accidently knocks Satome on her ass earlier this afternoon. She looks very concerned right now, but the feeling seems to be directing towards Kurokami rather than Nobita as she didn't even give him a glimpse.

"Ah... Miyoko, Miyoko, my dearest Miyoko. So good for you to give me a visit. I would rather you didn't interrupt my work, but it's good to see you after all those time. I don't go out much those days, but even I heard you are taking in some protégés yourself. Feeling a bit lonely all by yourself?" Nobita looks up at Kurokami and realize she has a warm, inviting smile on her face. But the insanity still lingers in her eyes seem to betray her true intention.

"Yes... I miss Izume, Karen, Aoi, and You very much." The new Magical Girl Miyoko looks down at the floor for a second with nostalgia in her eyes. But she quickly brings up her eyes to stare Kurokami right in the eyes once again. "But enough about me, what made you change? Why are you doing such cruel things to all those innocent people Kurokami-San?"

"How can you throw such wild accusation at me Miyoko, I am deeply hurt by your lack of understanding." Kurokami press both of her hands in front of her chest as she lets out a gasp at Miyoko's accusation. "I did not change at all as I am still helping people. Why... I am simply saving everyone from their pain by granting them the peace of death."

"How can you say something this crazy? How can you save anyone by killing them!" Nobita realizes Miyoko seems to shift her weight backwards as her eyes widen at Kurokami explanation. He wonders if Miyoko is so taken aback by this statement she instinctively wants to take a step back, but manages to fight against the urge.

"You can't understand the gift to us all that is death? I don't blame you... you didn't see what I seen. But you do remember I had a sister, am I right Miyoko-Chan?" As Kurokami slowly recite her story, Nobita notices the madness in her eyes seem to recede and she has the same look as when she was comforting him after his forced flashback. "I was so angry at papa when sister hang herself because she can't take all his abuse anymore... I took a knife and shove it into his stomach. He kicked, screamed like a pig and cursed me with the most vile word. But you know what he did last?"

At this point, two stream of tear starts to run down the mad Magical Girl's face, and her mouth twist upwards into a smile. "He begged for forgiveness. To Mama, to sister, and to me... That's when I remember sister's face when she hanged herself. She looks peaceful... even happy for once. And that's when I realize something: Death not only set us free from our pain, it also purifies us from all our sins. That's why I will continue to save everyone else, even if nobody will understand me, because I know sister will be proud of me."

Nobita notices Miyoko seems quite shaken up by Kurokami the mad Magical Girl's statement. Heck, he is pretty sure he's shaken in his jacket himself. Anyways, Miyoko seems to be having a bit of trouble focusing her attention on Kurokami, which is lucky for her since Kurokami is not showing any sign hostility against her right now. In fact, both Magical Girls seem to be lost in their respective thought until Miyoko finally said something. "...That's not true... Death is not our salvation... If what you said is truth, than why do you have this!"

The pink mouse like Magical Girl starts out in a murmur, but gradually picks up her voice till she booms out the sentence. Miyoko suddenly aims her silver sword away from Kurokami and let out another battle cry. "Flèche D'Argent!"

A bolt of silver lightening fires off her sword, and shoots at a corner of the building. Nobita notices the white rabbit he was following is hiding in the corner, and is hit by Miyoko's attack. "Kyuu~!"

"That thing I just hit, it is the familiar of a witch isn't it? If you truly believe in saving people by granting them death, than why did you feed them to this familiar? It was you who taught me the people who have their lives taken by a witch or familiar have their souls taken away. Saving those people for your sister is just an excuse you make for yourself Kurokami-San, you are just feeding them to a witch's familiar because you don't want to die! And doing this in your sister's name is only sullying her memory!"

At those words, the face of Kurokami become twisted. For some reason, it reminds Nobita that of an Oni from folklore. The ropes which drips down from the sleeves of Kurokami also tighten up, resembling a whip rather than a lasso. "I won't have you speak such nonsense, about me dishonoring my sister!"

And with that, Kurokami lunges at Miyoko while swinging her ropes forward with the intention and ferocity to completely annihilate her existence. Miyoko on the other hand seems to have regains her composure, as she holds onto her silver sword with both hand and slide through the flurry of wipe slash with minimum effort while inching closer to Kurokami. Nobita notices the way she move around is more like a well disciplined fencer who conserves her stamina, which is very different than Jaiko's wild leaps.

As the Magical Girl in pink close in on Kurokami, she suddenly points her silver sword forward and goes for a two hand thrust. For a split second, the image of two distinguish different Magical Girls seem to merge together, before they split apart as first blood is drawn.

A geyser of blood erupt from the mad Magical Girl's shoulder, but Miyoko doesn't look very happy with it. In fact, she has a very concerned face like she just messed something up. "You improved a lot Miyoko... pity you are still using every move I taught you!"

Despite being the one who is injured, Kurokami still sounds completely confident in her voice as she snaps around and faces Miyoko while catching a rope drips from the ceiling. "Which is too bad... since I never showed you all my tricks!"

She pulls down the rope before Miyoko has the time to do anything to stop her, and the bodies hanging from ceiling suddenly start to fall towards Miyoko like a walls and walls of zombies. Miyoko quickly back flip out the way of the first dozen of bodies before breaking into a sprint around the room as dead bodies keep falling towards her. "How many waves of dead assault can you survive?!"

_She is right Nobita, at this rate Miyoko's defeat is imminent. And when she fells... Kurokami will come after you. I suggest you make your wish now, become a Magical Boy and help Miyoko in this fight._

Nobita turns his head, and realize Kyubey the white alien rabbit cat fox is staring at his eyes with the same old beady little red eyes. He immediately reaches out and eagle claws Kyubey's head.

_Oh dear, this is a..._

"Hey! Asshat!" Nobita picks Kyubey's small body up by his head and throws him at Kurokami while shouting at the top of his lung. "Yippee ki-yay MOTHER FUCKER!"

_...setback..._

That is Kyubey's last thought before he splatters into bits when he collide with a spinning dead body Kurokami uses as a make shift shield in front of her. Although Nobita doesn't get to fully witness the spectacle, since he is pick up by his collar when Miyoko rushes pass him like a speeding bullet.

"You should have run." Nobita can clearly hear the disapproval in Miyoko's voice.

"Because you were winning?"

"If you run away, I might find an opening and run myself. Now we may both die." Nobita doesn't get the chance to let the awkward realization that he manages to become a burden rather than help settle in before Miyoko suddenly loses her footing and they both crash onto the concrete floor. At this point Nobita realizes a rope lasso is tied to Miyoko's ankle as it drags Miyoko back towards Kurokami.

Miyoko does her best to flip up from the floor and thrust her sword at Kurokami as she is being pulled close. The mad Magical Girl simply tilt her head to avoid the attack as she swats Miyoko's sword out of her hand. "Your attack is the same as always Miyoko, precise, but nothing if not predictable. It may work on Witches, but do you honestly believe it'll work on your old mentor?"

She stomps one of her feet onto Miyoko's chest to prevent her from trying to get away as she reaches toward Miyoko's head with her palm open. Even in a good distance away Nobita can still see blood drip down from her cross shaped wound. "Now... let me see your deepest pain."

"Run!" Miyoko manage to throw Nobita a desperate look before her face is covered by the hand of Kurokami. Her body start to violently convulse as she screams out just like Nobita a short time earlier.

_Damn it... DAMN IT! I am still so useless... instead of helping I ends up messing things up again! Why am I so useless in those kind of situation... why can't I be more like that Tuxedo Mask wannabe! Come to think of it... where is that cosplayer anyway?_

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

"Argh..." The Tuxedo Mask cosplayer crashes into a bunch of trash cans with a loud grunt as he is knocked backward. He can hear the loud cursing of some resident as they shout some dirty word at him, assuming him to be a drunken hobo. He puts his hand along a concrete wall for support as he slowly gets up.

"...So that's the reason I was warned not to tangle with one of Hachibey's Preventers." He shakes his head, trying to come up with a sound strategy to overcome this obstacle between him and the old abandoned building where a battle between Magical Girls is currently taking place. Too bad his mind only draw up a blank.

_Extreme long range, pinpoint accuracy and rapid fire to boot... And my lens might as well be made of papers for all the good they does against his steel balls. The only advantage I may have over him is getting close and personal since I'm pretty sure my walking cane is a more effective close range weapon than steel balls, but that's assuming I can get within range to begin with. This guy's fighting style is super effective against mine._

The cosplayer look up and stares at his opponent who is currently standing on top of an utility pole juggling three steel balls in his right hand. The Preventer dresses in a white, nameless baseball player uniform, with a pitcher's cap hang so low it blocks half of his face. He is a fairly short with a height just over 170 cm and a slim build that makes him look more like a monkey, but it certainly doesn't stop him from being a formidable fighter especially in long range.

"Run along now Warden, or do you want me to kick your ass a bit more? You already know I won't let you approach my charge right?"

"While I don't want to provoke a fight with Hachibey's Preventers... you do realize your charge is insane, and she is killing innocent people right?" Tuxedo Mask lets out a sigh as he brushes away some fish bones from his cape.

"I fail to see how that's any of my problem, my only goal is to keep Kira-Chan safe." The monkey like Preventer lets out a shrug as he gets into another pitching stance. "Aren't you Wardens protect all Magical Girls instead of choosing one charge like us Preventers. You should just cut your lose with this one, and focus on the others."

"A logical argument. My chance at beating you is very slim, and if I'm dead I won't be able to protect anyone..." The Warden hangs his head low for a second, before he holds his walking cane like a hammer and goes into his own fighting stance. "But human lives can't be valued by a simple number, so I choose all or nothing."

"It's your funeral." The Warden sees a smirk appear on the Preventer's face as three steel balls fly towards him with the speed of bullet and force of meteor.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**I wonder if anybody actually predicted Homura enter into this story. But it really is a required, consider this story's title is Daybreak's Bell, and her last name roughly means Daybreak's Beauty.**

**But to be a bit more serious, having Homura enter this story certainly has a bigger purpose than making this a cheap tie-in to PMMM, and taking Homura into this story gives me an opportunity to write her a bit out of her usual character arc I feel not many author has utilized at this point. In addition, what I planned for Homura does tie well into the semi-original main cast of Daybreak's Bell and the story.**

**I'm also going to put some information regarding the different original Witch/Familiars featured in this story, although it's a shame I'm not that well versed in English (or other language) to give them well thought name like the original PMMM. Sorry for the confusion that might cause to anyone reading this story, but I do hope the description itself is enough to distinguish which Witch/Familiar I am writing about.**


	6. Something is horribly wrong

Three metal balls aimed at the tuxedo Warden's jaw, chest, and abdomen flies at him with the speed of bullet, and force of meteor. The Warden quickly conjures up three glass lens in front of him. The lens shatters as soon as the three metal balls make impact, but manage to delay them for a split second for the tuxedo wearer to calculate their trajectory.

The Tuxedo Mask look alike quickly spins his walking cane in front of him in an effort to parry away those deadly projectile attacks. But to his surprise, the three metal balls change course as they speed through his defense and knocks him back into a concrete wall. He grit his teeth, trying hardest to not let out a painful scream before his knees give away and slump on the cold street.

"What? You assumed I can only throw straight fast balls? I won't be the ace in our team if that's the case." The Preventer asks in a nonchalant tone with both of his hands fold behind the back of his head.

_This is not good... even with my enhanced endurance and regeneration he'll knock me out if he hits me again like that. Need to come up with a plan fast..._

The Warden lets in a deep breath, trying to clear his head and formulate a plan. But the Preventer certainly doesn't play to let his enemy regroup as he takes out three steel balls once again.

"Well... Hachibey won't like it if I actually kill you. But I suppose if I just put you to sleep he won't really nag my ear off. Here comes the last one, a perfect game." The Preventer lets out a sneer as he throws his steel balls at the Warden once again. Despite trying his best to get up, the Tuxedo wear Warden barely manage to stand upright as the steel balls are about to strike him.

A blue blur suddenly shoot down from one of the nearby house. It collides into the incoming attack before landing on the pavement. The Preventer tilt his head as he inspect the new comer, a blue Incubator with white belly and lacks the pair of cat like ear above their rabbit ear. The Warden's eye widen, as he calls out his contractor's name. "Dorabey!"

"Don't worry about me, my Warden. My body is much more durable than it looks." Dorabey, the blue Incubator briefly turns his head back at the Tuxedo wearing Warden and gives his contractee a reassuring smile before turning back to look at the Preventer like a cat ready to prance on his prey.

"Ah, so you are one of the Dorayaki Cops who fight together with their Contractee. Heard something about you guys from Hachibey. You know, I kind of like you guys who actually get down and dirty unlike Hachibey, but I still have to protect my charge so I have to take you out now. Nothing personal." The Preventer moves his tilted head from left to right as he juggles his steel balls with his left hand before going into his pitching stance once again.

"It's Dorayaki Corp, not Dorayaki Cop. And the feeling of nothing personal against you is mutual. While I admire your devotion to your charge, I simply can't allow your charge to harm another Magical Girl." Dorabey takes a step towards the Preventer as his Warden also step forth, an Incubator and his Contractee facing against their foe side by side.

_I'm so glad you came Dorabey, if you didn't interfere I would be defeated by this Preventer. And sorry for picking a fight with a Preventer after you specifically advice against it._

_"It can't be helped since he insist on protecting his charge even when she's clearly mad and became a danger to every other Magi. Let's both rush at this Preventer, but don't spend too much time on him. Our goal is to..."_

Dorabey did not get to finish his thought as both the Warden and the Preventer's Soul Gem suddenly begin to react. They briefly break off their confrontation and turn to look at the abandoned building. The Preventer grit his teeth before letting out a snare. "You got to be shitting me! A Witch of all things has to be hatched now?!"

The Preventer react first as he leaps off from the utility pole he's standing on and charges through the air toward the abandoned building. Dorabey and the Warden follows right after him, as this sudden appearance of a common enemy means their goal suddenly becomes aligned.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Miyoko's body start to shake fiercely while she lets out a scream so loud it will surely be Nobita's new nightmare fuel, assuming he can survive this encounter of course. As time slowly tick away, her scream dies down into a sob as two stream of tear run down her face. She is also mumbling something here and there, but it is too disjointed for Nobita to make any sense out of it. He wonders if that's how pathetic he looks while he's being put into Kurokami's hypnotic trance, although he's fairly certain he still has some of his own wits with him while Miyoko seems to be completely lost in her own memory.

Her mumbling slowly begins to become louder, and Nobita realize she is repeatedly saying 'Mommy, stop hurting me' between her tears. Nobita wonders to himself if she's another family abuse victim like Kurokami. He also wonders if that's the common element that started their friendship.

Suddenly, Miyoko's crying becoming louder, as she start repeatedly apologizing to her mother. The madness in Kurokami's eyes recede once again, replaced by the same mother like kindness Nobita sees when he comes out of his trance as she gently brush Miyoko's hair.

"Oh, Miyoko... how can I forget the tragedy that happened to you... You need not to feel remorse or sadness for your mother's passing, for very soon you shall be free of your pain and join her in peace." Kurokami says in an almost chanting like tone as she embrace Miyoko tight with a benevolent smile on her face. Although Miyoko doesn't seem to agree with her sentiment as she slowly regains her sense as her eyes clear.

"...NO." Miyoko denies through her gritted teeth as she start to violently kicking around and trying to pry Kurokami's arm away from her. "Mother knew she would suffer a fate worse than death if she turns into a Magical Girl, but she still fought that witch without any hesitation because she wants to protect me. I won't throw away my life after her sacrifice!"

Miyoko turns her head back the best she can, as she stares into Kurokami. "You claim death free me from my pain Kurokami-San... but I don't want to let it go. Pain gives meaning to happiness, and without it there's no room for happiness either. That's why I choose to live in pain, rather than die with emptiness!"

"Brave words, Miyoko..." Kurokami closes her eyes for a second, and when she opens them the madness returns. She suddenly let go of Miyoko while pulls a rope downward, dragging Miyoko up toward ceiling. At the last moment, Miyoko manage to lock her legs on Kurokami leg, temporarily stopping herself in a rather awkward position as she claws at her own neck where the rope nook is.

"Do you have the strength to back it up! My magical potential way out class your own! And I taught you how to fight as a Magical Girl so none of your tricks work on me! How long can you hold onto your pathetic life? Your resolution is nothing in the face of absolute strength!"

Nobita can feel his blood starts to boil at the mention of those words. His nail digs into the center of his palm so deep, blood start to mix with sweat in his hand.

_Why does those who have power all ends up being bullies in the end... Why do they want to trample those around who are less powerful... Is it the only way for them to have a sense of fulfillment, or do they simply enjoy watching others suffer._

Before Nobita realizes it, he stands up on the ground. His eyes narrows, focusing on Kurokami till she becomes the only thing within the glasses wearing 8th grader's vision. He lets out a loud roar as he charges at Kurokami with his shoulder, not thinking about the consequence till she literally sends him flying with a simple back hand, like she's simply swatting away an annoying bug.

_Once again... I can't do anything... I hate it... I hate this feeling of how useless I am... And I hate the fact I can't do anything to those bullies..._

Nobita thinks to himself with a dreaded sense of self loathing as he glide through the air till his back slams into the concrete wall. It hurts worse than getting beat up by Gian and Suneo together as he drops to the floor. Through the pain, he realize Kurokami is holding her forehead as she wobbles in pain while Miyoko is kneeling on the floor.

"You... Miyoko!" Kurokami hisses at Miyoko with an almost baneful tone. "I was going to free you from all your suffering even after you insulted me and my sister for old time's sake, but you just throw all my good will back to my face? Now I'll make sure you suffer..."

As intimidating as Kurokami is being right now, and through all the pain in his back Nobita notices something else. The rabbit Miyoko fried earlier looks very wrong right now as its blackened body start to rapidly change shape while expanding in a unnatural manner. It is like something inside is about to get hatched.

Then it burst out of the rabbit's shell. Its body is covered with long, white fur and it has long, slim spider like limbs, but the head with blood red eyes looks canine in nature as it lets out a blood curling howl while the surrounding changes into what look like an abandoned hospital ward. Both Miyoko and Kurokami turns to look at the beast with shock in their eyes.

"The familiar turned? How!? I didn't feed it anymore souls today..." Kurokami screams with a bewildered tone as a giant claw swats her away like she does to Nobita a short moment ago. Miyoko on the other hand reacted more timely as she rolls forward and manages to get away from the claw swipe. Miyoko dodges forward with a series of fast roll as the beast lumbering forward trying to reach her, not minding her cherry petal like dress is getting dragged through the dirty floor.

"Bad doggie!" A lasso flies out of the debris pile and ropes around the beastly familiar's neck. It roars furiously as it wobbles left and right trying to shake free. Kurokami darts out of the pile of dirt and ash as she swings herself up and flings her on top of the beast's head. She produces another rope with her right hand, this time resembling the wipe like form she uses when she initially fights Miyoko. She brings her wipe down on the wolf like beast's head and torso while laughing like a manic in the process.

Miyoko on the other hand doesn't even try to look back. As Kurokami and the wolf beast are busy fighting each other she makes a straight dash towards Nobita and picks him up from the floor bridal style and keeps on picking up speed.

At this point it becomes hard for Nobita to concentrate on what is going on around him. Miyoko's lightening fast dash couple with the excruciating pain in his back makes him phase in and out of consciousness. At one point Nobita feel like someone run past him, but he can't really tell as he has a hard time to estimate how much time is elapsing. It can be five minutes, ten, or an eternity if the pain from his back is a good indication. Eventually, Miyoko stops and lay him down on the ground. She takes her Soul Gem out as it glows a warm color, and the pain from Nobita's back slowly recede.

"It's a good thing you spine doesn't seem to be injured, or else I don't think my healing magic is enough since I'm not a healer type." Miyoko bends down as she reaches her hand out for Nobita. He looks at her face for a second before taking her hand, pulling himself into a sitting position first. "And... thanks for what you did back there."

"You are thanking me for getting my ass handed to me?" Nobita raises an eyebrow at Miyoko's remark before slowly stand up. He looks down at his cloth, and cringe at how much dirt and mud is all over thanks to his recent encounter. There's little chance he can escape a nagging marathon from his mother now.

Miyoko opens her mouth but stops before she says anything. She looks thoughtful for a second before scratching her head before giving Nobita an apologetic smile. "When you put it that way... I guess that's not a very nice thing to say. But the truth is you distracted Kurokami long enough for me to kick myself free of her hold. That probably saved my life back there."

"It's cool. Lots of worse people said much nastier things to me than you just did." Nobita gives a shrug before realizing Miyoko is no longer wearing her pink dress with flower petal like skirt. She is currently wearing a deep blue jacket over a pair of brown pants and they don't look as dirty as his own.

_Must be very handy trick to do that magical girl transformation since her original cloth doesn't get dirtied or damaged..._

"...I'm sorry to hear that... People can be very mean to each other for very silly reason." For a second, Miyoko has the same sad look as when she first confront Kurokami back in the abandoned building. She quickly recovers from it, and gives Nobita another smile. "I don't want to sounds like I'm being mean to you... but you just learned how dangerous this kind of... 'situation' is. You really should stop wander around at night and looking around bad places like that, since next time there might not be another Magical Girl nearby who wants to help you."

Miyoko starts to turn away as she finishes her sentence, it makes Nobita feel his anger raising once again. While she is trying to be nice and reasonable, Nobita can't help but feel there's something very patronizing in what she said.

_Why... why does everyone say the same thing. Just because I don't have magic I can go straight to hell? Well... I can be a Magical Boy too if I want to._

"Because I'm not a Magical Girl, or in my case a Magical Boy? Well... Deadpan McFuzzybutt did say I have the potential to be one." Miyoko suddenly freezes on the spot as Nobita proclaim he can be a Magical Boy. She turns around and gives Nobita a very serious look for about ten seconds.

"It's not my place to make your decision... but I honestly hope you don't consider take his offer. Especially not for a reason like you want to prove yourself capable of fighting. The life of a Magical Girl... or a Magical boy... is a lonely and feeble existence."

Nobita opens his mouth, but can't find a word to say at Miyoko's response. While the wording is once again patronizing, he can't help but feel a sincere sorrow behind her words. He realize there's something fishy going on as Miyoko turns around and walk away again. Thinking back on the recent event, during her battle with Kurokami, Miyoko begged her mother to stop hurting her like she's a family abuse victim. But later when she regains her sense, she says something about honoring her mother's memory. Thing just doesn't add up together...

_Stay calm and collected Nobita, remember what Dekisugi said: Everything can be explained by __**SCIENCE**__! And also what Kyubey said: **Magic** Is __**SCIENCE**__! Everything need to follow some kind of principle. What is Pi again? 3.1415926... Wait a minute... earlier she said something like 'there might not be another Magical Girl around who wants to help you'. Why doesn't she just say there might not be another Magical Girl around, but emphasis on 'wants to help you'? Oh Kami-Sama... does that mean..._

"Wait! Tell me! Does all Magical Girl eventually lose their sanity like your old friend coco puff rope queen back there?" Nobita quickly runs towards Miyoko and grabs her shoulder. She turns around and give Nobita another sorrowful look.

"Something like that... that's why I don't think you should be involved any further." Miyoko's answer gives Nobita a very bitter taste in his mouth. Does that mean Shizuka is somewhere in this world, lost her sanity and wasting away like Kurokami, and does that mean Jaiko would eventually join them in this fate? The very thought makes him wants to run away screaming, and maybe throw up a little...

"Well... too late for that. Yesterday I meet someone I knew a long time and she turns out to be a Magical Girl." Nobita swallows the lump in his throat as he kicks away a pebble in his way. His voice sounds bitter even to himself.

Miyoko turns back and look at Nobita again. She thinks to herself for a few short seconds. "So you are that friend Jaiko told me about over the phone last night... You want to help a friend, don't you..."

Miyoko's response makes Nobita stop dead in his track, both physically and mentally. He wants to ask himself, just who is Jaiko to him? Is she a friend? He doesn't think so, consider even back in the day Jaiko is just Gian's little sister. Most of the time he interact with her is because Gian forces him to. Just why does he suddenly start to care about her being a Magical Girl, is it because she somehow starts to look like Shizuka? That would be awfully superficial, even for a complete loser with a runaway imagination like himself.

Regardless of the reason, Jaiko is a Magical Girl who might turn insane any time if what Miyoko just said is true. Nobita feels like he can't just turn around and walk away to try and pretend none of those ever happened.

Miyoko on the other hand seems to be oblivious about Nobita suddenly spacing out. Perhaps she is too focused on her own thought herself. "...if you truly want to help your friend, don't try to become a Magical Boy and fight by her side. Being a Magical Girl, or in your case a Magical Boy is a death sentence."

"Just in case you forgot... us boys of none Magical varieties also dies. And judging by what happened tonight, much easier than you Magical varieties." Nobita wraps his arms in front of his chest as his usual snarky side starts to surface. Miyoko lets out a light chuckle at his remark.

"Yes... I suppose that is true. Everybody dies sooner or later and if you get caught in Magical Girl business as a normal boy you are more likely to die than a Magical Boy. But my point was: if you wants to do something for your friend Jaiko, do everything in your power to be a good friend to her and make her happy before she's gone... and most importantly: don't ever forget about her, for she may soon forget about herself like all of us eventually will."

Miyoko's sentence sends chill down Nobita's bones. He wants to quickly pick up the pace and follow her. But his feet are so heavy they feel like lead and he's unable to complete such a simple task. The way she talks about Jaiko like she's on her death bed and could be gone any time... Jaiko's not even old enough for middle school yet. At the same time Nobita finds himself wanting to learn more about this Magical Girl business, to...

To do what? It's obvious he is unable to help anyone just like he can't do anything for Shizuka. Still, he finds himself anxious to learn more. Maybe... just maybe, he can find a way... "Wait! You have to tell me this Magical Girl thing because I can't just turn my back and bury my head in the dirt like an ostrich this time."

"I already told you, if you want to help Jaiko just be a good friend to her is more important than anything..." Miyoko turns back to Nobita, he raises one hand in front of him like he is reaching out for something.

"Please... One of my friend... probably my only real friend when I was young. She was a Magical Girl, and she was taken away by someone while I'm powerless to do anything. I don't think I'll be able to live myself if I don't at least try to do something this time around..." Nobita raises his head to look at Miyoko's face again, and realize she is letting out a heavy sigh.

"I can relate to that, all my old friends who are Magical Girls are also gone. Well... Kurokami-San is still around, but you seen how she is now... she used to be one of the nicest Magical Girl around... I got off track there. I can't promise you what I'm going to tell you is everything but I'll tell you everything I know. Not now though, it's getting too late and I need to run home before father returns. I don't want him to worry about me... I'll meet you in school tomorrow, go to the roof after classes are over."

With that last statement, Miyoko turns away and picks up her pace once again as Nobita steadily slows his own pace till he grind to a halt. She quickly disappear into the night, leaving Nobita with the image of her lone figure walking away in an empty street engraved into his mind. Nobita can't help but feel her slim back side look so forlorn and lost under the silent moon light.

"This... is so fucked up..." Nobita shakes his head as he says to no one in particular. While he's certainly not one of those closet case Magical Girl genre fan boys he still know enough of those anime from Hideo. To see a real life Magical Girl speaking like she is terminally ill with cancer... It's a frightening sight in its own right even if Miyoko doesn't look like Sadako Yamamura from Ring.

A long five minutes pass before Nobita realizes he's not getting anything by staring at the street Miyoko disappeared to. He lets out another heavy sigh as he turns around and walks toward his home with heavy footsteps. He hears someone shouting in the distance before a yellow blur knocks him forward and face plant into the pavement. At that point, Nobita is just glad his glasses fall off his nose before the impact, or the glass shard may explode into his face.

After frantically searching the pavement for a few second Nobita manages to find it, placing it back on his face he looks up and sees the figure running away. The figure wears a light yellow blouse and short black skirt that look like some kind fancy uniform for one of those private rich kid school Suneo goes to. Her long raven hair flaps in the night breeze like a bird spreading her wings as she disappears around a corner.

_What the hell was that about...? She's running like there's a sex offender hot on her trail. Actually... that might be what happened, I just hope that possible offender isn't interested in boys._

"...Stop! You... damn shop lifter!" A middle aged man wearing an apron that look like some store clerk runs up to Nobita and answers his question. He is clearly out of breath as he bends down and rest his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "Damn that girl! She looks like she's rich enough to go to Musashinomori and she can't even pay for a sandwich..."

"Well... you never know those rich kid types. Sometimes their upbringing is so strict they get a kick breaking laws, like committing shop lifting." The clerk look at Nobita like his ancestors just got insulted before walking away, cursing 'kids those days who can't follow simple discipline'. Nobita gives a shrug before continuing his way to go back home. It takes him another half an hour to reach home. He hopes to slip by his parents and shove his dirty clothes into the washer, but such hope is quickly dashed when one of his pet dog Ichi tackles him right into the floor.

"Ouch... that wasn't very nice, boy... But I'm happy to see you too." Nobita gently scratches behind the ears of his brown Shiba Inu as he lets out a blissful purring sound. His other pet, a pure white Beagle named Peko just sits quietly by the lobby and watches Nobita and Ichi with curious eyes.

"What happened Nobita? You were gone a long time and... what happened to your clothes!" Nobita mentally cringes as he hears the howling of his mother Tamako. Well... here comes the nagging marathon he so desperately wanted to avoid. "You looks like you fall head first into a ditch and then rolled through all the mud!"

"Well... that's actually not too far from the truth mama... I got run over by a shop lifter and fall into said ditch." Nobita gives his mother a nervous smile as he tries to stop his own voice from crumbling under the immerse pressure. If he somehow slip the fact he went to a suicidal hotspot and almost got murdered by a insane girl then he will certainly be grounded for life.

For a second the glasses wearing house wife is about to go full ballistic nagging mother mode. Lucky for Nobita, his father Nobisuke walks out of the living room and saves him at least for now. "Well... I guess it can't be helped then. There has been more report of people breaking laws around Saigaku recently. Just be careful next time when you go for another one of your jog."

"You can't just let him go outside freely after that, especially noticing how there are people breaking law left and right! Listen up young man, from this point on you will have no more late night jog, did I make myself clear?" Tamako nags her husband with an annoyed look before staring Nobita. He let out a gulp, but feeling a little relived that's the extent of his mother's wrath for now.

"Yes ma'am. Crystal ma'am." Nobita furiously nods at his mother before running to the family bathroom and throw all his dirty clothes into the washer. He takes a short shower and retreat to his room, turning off the main light and turn on the lamp to help him focusing more on the study material. After unsuccessfully bury himself into the wonderful world of mathematics, he finally turns off the light and limps back to his futon.

_Oh well... If math doesn't do it for me at least sleeping will help me cope with all the crazy shit that's happening before my eyes. That always work..._

Nobita crashes into his futon as the last trace of his consciousness and possibly his own sanity leaves him.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

_Well... so much for that thought..._

Nobita realize he is standing in some kind of tunnel. It looks like one of those checkered flag they use during a car race. He doesn't know what is at the end of the tunnel, but he recon this is not the way to the afterlife. Before he can get his bearing, someone seem to run pass him. He can't tell who the person is, but from her silhouette Nobita can tell it belongs to a young girl with twin tail. The similar kind of hair style as...

_Shizuka? Since this is my dream, it has to be her right...?_

Nobita quickly run forward and follows 'Shizuka' toward the end of the tunnel. He doesn't know how much time he spends on chasing after her, but eventually the tunnel gives way to a city. Granted, it look like one of those post-apocalyptic cities from Fist of North Star, but still a city nonetheless. That is also when Nobita realize the girl he is following is in fact not Shizuka, but someone with pink hair. He is fairly certain he has never meet this girl before in his life. Is this like one of his dream adventures where his imagination starts to fly in every possible direction?

_Hmm... In that case I wonder where is Doraemon..._

Nobita's thought pattern is interrupted when he hears a series of loud laughter. Well... to Nobita it sounds more like what you get when you runs your fingernail across glass than any kind of sound a human vocal cord is capable of. He looks up and...

_HOLY SHIT! IS THAT A BROKEN BUILDING FLYING TOWARDS ME!_

Nobita hold his arms in front of his face, trying to shelter his frail body from the impact of a snapped skyscraper. To his surprise, he didn't feel any pain. That's when he realize he is in his own dream and he lets out a relived sigh.

"Ok, Doraemon you need to come out, I really need your help now..."

That's what Nobita would have said, except when he opens his mouth he realize he's not making any sound. Then he turns to look at the pink haired girl, who is talking with Deadpan McFuzzybutt Kyubey. The expression on her face indicate she's close to panicking now, which is understandable given the situation.

Both the girl and the cat bunny fox look up. Nobita follows their line of sight and sees a raven haired girl armed with a Rocket Propelled Grenade and a white buckler on her arm leaping in the air... and what appears to be a giant upside down porcelain doll with gear like stand attached to where its feet are supposed to be.

_OKAY... Of all my dream adventure villains this one has to take the cake for the weirdest design. And that's taken into consideration one of them is a giant demon whose heart is literally a comet flying around in space, and a parasite ghost with no body. Wait a minute... Is she one of the Witches?_

The girl with raven hair continue to leap around in air, pulling out one firearm after another as she attempt to fight off the giant porcelain doll to no avail as it easily smacks her around by hurling broken buildings. Strangely, the twisted laughter of the giant doll is the only sound in this dream. Nobita looks back and sees the pink haired girl has a stern look on her face as she talks with Kyubey.

Things happened quickly afterwards. McFuzzybutt seems to be doing something as he closes his eyes before pinky is enveloped in light and transforms into one of those fancy dress Magical Girls wear. She draws open her bow, and shots an arrow at the giant doll as it crumbles in front of Nobita's eyes.

_Wow... I don't want to be a dick - okay, maybe I do, but that's beside the point - but talk about being owned. Pinky here took down that giant doll with one hit while the other girl..._

Nobita looks at the girl with the buckler while smug thoughts run unchecked in his brain. But as soon as he looks at the raven haired girl - who is currently laying on the ground like a broken doll herself - any douche-y thought in his mind disappeared. She looks like she's being torn apart by strong emotion and it is not jealousy.

Nobita quickly turns around and follows the buckler wearing girl's sight to look at the newly transformed Magical Girl. She looks very wrong, as black smoke start to form around her. Her fancy dress change back into her yellow school uniform as the girl falls on the ground lifeless. A giant black strings with a dark silhouette that roughly resembles her form raises toward the sky as a cracked glass jewel rolls around her feet.

_Oh... Kami-Sama... What I just saw... The Witches are what Magical Girls will eventually become isn't it? And that's why Miyoko said being a Magical Girl is a death sentence, and all the Magical Girl will eventually forget themselves... But that can't happen, this is just a dream... a nightmare I'm having due to my run away imagination... right? _

Despite her injuries, the raven haired girl staggers forward to her fallen friend. She holds the lifeless body of the pink haired girl tightly as tears erupt out of her eyes.

"MADOKA!"

_Shizuka..._

Nobita's body falls backwards as pure blackness embraces him.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**End Note:**

I'm not an expert on dogs, so apologies if I got the breed of Peko and Ichi wrong regarding their cannon counterpart in Doraemon. Although in my defence since this is an alternate timeline where PMMM rules take precedent over Doraemon rules... I guess it is not a big deal.

I also just realize as I wrote this chapter, both Madoka and Shizuka's first name ends with 'Ka', which to my extremely limited understanding of Japanese means 'sweet scent'. It kind of work out perfectly for this story I want to tell consider the role of Nobita and Homura, as well as what Madoka and Shizuka means for the two of them.


	7. Cruel truth of Magical Girl

Nobita walks forward like a mindless zombie limping away without a focus in his eyes. The nightmare from previous night leaves him little rest, and consider the event that lead up to it... needless to say he is reaching the limit of his stamina even though the week hasn't even pass its midpoint mark. Although at the moment, mundane school things is the last thing Nobita is thinking about.

He can't stop thinking of all the cryptic message Miyoko leaves him, or his nightmare. He's still holding onto hope that nightmare is simply caused by himself thinking too much - Not the first time this happened after all - but he is pretty sure he used up all his good luck by escaping death twice in a role since Monday.

_So no one told you life is this fucking way... story of my life..._

"You look completely worn out Nobita, last night must be tough for you." Once again, Nobita's 'most friendly acquaintance' Hidetoshi Dekisugi asks in a concerned voice as he joins Nobita on their way to school.

Yes... last night was pretty tough. Almost got hung by an insane Magical Girl, then met another still sane Magical Girl who told me all Magical Girl eventually goes banana balls... getting run over by a shop lifter girl... getting yelled by mom after all those years... And to top it all off, that nightmare was simply terrible. But how would Dekisugi knows about that...

"Just because the principle wants us to both get good rank in the math contest to boost our school's reputation doesn't mean you are obligated to kill yourself for it Nobita. You need to be more mindful of your own health." Dekisugi continues his lecture of Nobita, the glasses wearing 8th grade feel the need to slap himself for over thinking again.

_Ah... of course Dekisugi is thinking about mundane task like that math contest. Now that I think about it... Dekisugi is smart, athletic, handsome - a little on the girly side but still handsome, and a lots of girls prefer his type anyways - he's kind of like those male supporting character from Magical Girl shows the female infatuates about. Well... I'm not the female lead of this Magical Girl story. It would be quite funny if he turns out to be Tuxedo Mask actually..._

"...You still have your whole life ahead of you Nobita, so don't waste your life on such foolish things." Dekisugi's Doraemon like life lecture is finally over as Nobita finishes amusing himself in his thought. As he finishes, Nobita can faintly catches a soft apology from Dekisugi. "I'm sorry..."

"What are you sorry about?"

"Oh, I just thought... you are my best friend, yet I didn't spare any time to help you deal with what's troubling you those few days..." Dekisugi looks surprised at Nobita's question as he starts to furiously look in every direction before fixing his gaze behind Nobita. "...LOOK OUT!"

Dekisugi quickly yanks Nobita away by his arm before he can form some kind of reply or realize what's going on. Nobita hits the pavement on his ass as he catches someone's loud screaming.

"NO BREAK! NO BREAK! NO BREAK~!"*BANG*!

The next thing Nobita realizes is Dekisugi spinning around and making a beautiful arc in the air, clearing right over the school wall of Saigaku High and lands with a heavy thud with someone shrieking in a particularly high pitch... And Junko currently lying face down in the pavement where Dekisugi is standing a few seconds earlier holding onto her lunch box like it's her new born baby.

"YES! MY LUNCH IS SAFE!" Junko jumps up from the pavement with a triumphant punch to the air as her wrecked bicycle is making some teeth grindingly painful screech. That's when Nobita realize what Junko means when she was screaming 'No break'. The break on her old beaten up bicycle must be broken.

"Dekisugi, or whoever he lands on might not be safe though." Nobita quickly follows Junko's example as he jumps up to his feet and runs inside the school wall. He sees Dekisugi lying face down with a face up Hideo like they are a pair of shameless yet loving couple making out in the schoolyard during broad daylight. It is quite a funny sight, and would totally goes into Nobita's _I will totally use this incident to rub it in Dekisugi's face_ book if it isn't the fact Dekisugi just saves him from a nasty trip to the nurse's office.

Nobita also notices there's a girl with a petit figure standing a short distance from Dekisugi and Hideo with a fascinated look in her eyes directing at the pair of boys. The most noticeable thing about the girl is her blond hair that styled into a anime girl like twin drill style that remind Nobita of Crescent bread. She's quietly mumbling something, and as Nobita approach he starts to regret hearing what she's saying.

"...What a passionate lover's dive, so in addition to Nobi-Senpai, Dekisugi-Senpai is also close with Nakazawa Senpai... Ah... It is certainly too much for me to bear..." The 7th grader mumbles to herself with a furious blush on her face as she starts to spin around in front of the two entangled boys.

"...Shouldn't you call a nurse or something instead of doing... whatever you are currently doing?" Nobita asks with a raised eyebrow as he squats down besides Dekisugi. "You two alright?"

"Err... I'll be alright as soon as the lady gets off me, I don't want other eligible bachelorette think I swing the same way as you two." Hideo says after a painful grunt, for a brief moment Nobita considers giving him a good kick on the head like Junko would likely does. Nobita pulls Dekisugi up from Hideo as the unlucky boy slowly crawls up from the dirt while looking at the doll like 1st year girl, who's currently dancing around the area like she's high on caffeine. "Might be already too late, Kareha will start shipping me with our lady here like she does the two of you after this. So much potential wasted because of her habit to indulge in day dream... That girl would rank better in The List if her head isn't stuck in the cloud higher than Yukiko all the time."

"The List?" Nobita and Dekisugi both asks with varied degree of curiosity in their voice as they watches the blond girl dances away into the school building.

"You know, the list all school has that ranks a girl's attractiveness in us boys' eyes." Hideo gives Dekisugi a good pat on the shoulder after he straighten his back, "By the way Dee-Chan. You rank third in 2nd year, and fifth place overall."

"...I'm not sure what's more disturbing: there's list that rank girls based on their physical and mental attractiveness, or I'm in it." Dekisugi looks taken aback for a second before letting out a defeated sigh.

"I'm just surprised such a list exist in the first place. Aren't we still in the 'we hate girls because we don't want to get cooties from them' age group?" Both Dekisugi and Hideo gives Nobita a very sympathetic look as he finish giving his own input. "...What?"

"Nobita, my man. You need to get on with the time. All the study is turning you into a very dull boy." Hideo says with a faked mature voice as he puts his arm around Nobita's neck. "Next time I'll take both you and my lady here to town, and we can go hunt for hot chicks."

"You just want Dekisugi and me to boost your image so you can score a date yourself." Nobita swats Hideo's arm away with an annoyed snort. It's not like he doesn't understand the attraction between opposite sex: he has been rather obsessed with Shizuka for as long as he can remember after all. But after Shizuka got taken away, he's been actively avoid getting into any deeper relationship.

The bond between human can be a fragile thing, what's the point of building one when you know you lack the strength to properly care for it?

"Why? What gives me away?" Hideo says with an over exaggerated fake shock on his face as he walks towards their classroom with Nobita and Dekisugi.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

The morning passes without anything out of ordinary - which means Junko and Kasumi still fights over the supremacy between coffee and tea, and Yukiko still tries to convince Dekisugi to wear some kind of dress to school the next time - Nobita opens the cover of his lunchbox as he ready to dig in before he hears Yukiko lets out a loud exclamation. "Jun-Chan! You brought such a fancy lunch today."

Nobita briefly considers the possibility of finishing his lunch quick and take a short nap before afternoon class, consider Yukiko is probably over reacting to things once again. But his curiosity manage to gets better of him, and he take a peep would produce a better result than yesterday. So he does just that, and gets admittedly surprised as much as Yukiko.

While Nobita and Junko Ryugu is not close by any definition, they did spend more than a year in the same home room. So it's a bit of surprise to see something other than three rice balls or Umeboshi Bento inside Junko's lunch box. Granted, what's inside her lunch box isn't very fancy: some usual fried shrimp, sausages, egg cake and the likes. But it's certainly count as a feast for Junko who comes from a very poor family. As for the almost delinquent herself... she actually looks embarrassed for once instead of being annoyed.

"Don't make a huge deal out of this Yukiko. Ah! My egg cake!" Junko says with a red face while she rapidly flaps her arms around like a baby bird trying to learn flight. Yukiko quickly breaks through her defence and snatches something away from her lunch box.

"Sorry, it's not like I want to steal your lunch... I'm just curious who give you this lunch because the taste isn't like your father's at all. It actually taste better, which is quite the feat since your father has the cooking skill of an official chief." Yukiko says with her eyes looking up at the roof while licking her lips. Her mouth quickly turns into a devilish smile as she stares at Junko. "And I know it's not from your mother because... no offense to you. So, tell me, who's the chief? Is it someone both me and Kazuko will soon get acquainted with?"

_So she's suggesting Junko has some admirer? That would be very surprising consider she isn't one who cares about her look, and her fist will probably scare away any possible admirer. Well, unless it's someone like Gian, who loves girls who can match his toughness we are talking about..._

Nobita turns his attention back to his own lunch while Yukiko continues to try probe more details out of Junko about her unusual lunch. Just then a small girl opens the door of their classroom and run in front of the duo. She looks all teary eyed and ready to cry any moment. "You left without me yesterday Junko, that was so mean of you."

"Ack! I'm so sorry about that Kazuko!" Junko lets out a comically loud scream as she almost fall down with her chair. She quickly jumps up her seat and pulls Kazuko into an embrace as she pets her friend's back. "There, there Kazuko. I hope the long way around home wasn't too much for you. I promise you I won't forget about you today, or the tomorrow, or the day after..."

"Well... it's not a big deal actually. Nobita Senpai offered to walk me home yesterday..." There's some unintelligent gibberish afterwards, but Nobita didn't pay much attention to it due to him focusing more on his lunch and a loud exclamation.

"WHAT!" With a loud roar that rivals Godzilla's angry war cry, Nobita feels himself being pulled up from his chair by his collar as a sausage gets stuck in his throat. He makes some gagging sound as Junko spins him on his feet to face her angry stare. "Ok bastard. You have exactly one minute to convince me you weren't trying to take advantage of little Kazuko before I put you into a world of hurt!"

"Ga... Grr..." Nobita starts to swing his arms wild as he start to lose what little air he has. He can hear Hideo making some snarky comment about not being the subject of Junko's rage, Yukiko observing his blue face, or Kazuko trying to calm her angry friend down but he can't make any sound that convinces Junko he's currently choking to death. And all he can think about at the moment is how much this situation reminds himself of all those time getting beaten to a pulp by Gian.

He feels some pressure being applied to his abdomen, quickly the sausage shots out of his mouth, hitting the back of the room wall like a rubber bullet and bounce back, nailing Hideo in the forehead. Nobita collapses on the floor like a sake of potatoes as Dekisugi lets out a relived sigh. "There, now that Nobita isn't choking I'm sure he can answer your question."

If Nobita isn't wrong, Dekisugi just saved his life for the second time this day. That's not good, he doesn't like owning Dekisugi anything, let alone his own life twice. Although such thought quickly vanishes away with a loud gulp on Nobita's part as he hears Junko cracking her knuckles. "Good, now I can take him apart limb by limb the proper way."

"Please don't do that Ryugu-San. I'm sure Nobita didn't mean any ill will towards Satome-San when he offers to take her home." Dekisugi quickly stands between Junko and Nobita while he raises his hand trying to stop Junko from taking some drastic action. But the almost middle school delinquent girl easily shoves the pretty boy aside as she steps forward and once again drags Nobita up by his collar.

"I'm not asking you. I'm asking four eye froggy himself. Spill it out froggy, I ain't got all day!" Junko says with a menacing stare deep into Nobita's eyes.

"Look... I just thought about when I was in grade school I had all kinds of trouble getting back home: Being hit by a car, bitten by dogs, fall into a ditch, or becoming local bully's punch bag, you name it. The only thing I was thinking about was I don't want Satome to experience what I experienced and that's all I can say. If you don't believe me... that's not the first time I get a savage beating." Nobita gives Junko a defeated sigh as he spills out whatever the aggressive girl wants to know. After a few short minute of Junko trying to stare into his soul she finally releases Nobita.

"I'll believe you for now. But you better not try something funny with Kazuko, or you'll get very familiar with my fist." Junko waves her fist in front of Nobita as she issues a threat, although Nobita's attention is draw more towards Kazuko. For some reason the 7th grader seems to have a very disappointed look on her face.

_Well... so much for my plan of catching up on my sleep. Now I'll be lucky if I can finish my lunch on time after this mess. _

"Ow... I think I got hit by a bullet. Anyone wants to take me to the nurse's office?" A short distance back, Hideo lets out a painful groan.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Once again, the afternoon classes pass by without much incident. Nobita almost feel sorry for their home room teacher Kakashi Sensei. Considers the silver haired teacher actually puts in the effort into making his lessons interesting unlike his colleagues yet all Nobita can think about is the meeting he's going to have with Miyoko. Although it does make the afternoon fly by fairly quickly, and soon he's finding himself going to the third floor through stair.

"Aren't you going home Nobita? I'd imagine you want to get some shut eye after all that." Dekisugi asks with a concerned voice as he's about to go down stairs.

"I'm catching up on my sleep on the roof. You are getting enough girl jokes made of you without being my mother." Nobita gives a shrug to his most friendly acquaintance. Dekisugi lets out a soft sigh.

"You are right... It's not my place to be over protective like a mother hen. Just be sure to get home before sun down. Saigaku is turning into a dangerous city like Tokyo with resent climbing of murder and suicide rate. I'll see you tomorrow then." Dekisugi gives Nobita a smile and a wave as he disappear through the stairs.

Nobita on the other hand just lets out a shrug as he continue to climb the stair toward roof. He almost knows the way by heart, and can almost walk to the roof with his eyes closed for all the time he takes nap on the roof. This time it feels different as he thinks about the event from two previous nights, as well as his nightmare. And the tiny door at the end of stair feels like some kind of metaphor that contains all the answer he seeks.

With a deep breath, he gives the handle a yank and pushes the door open as he sees a bunch of white doves fly up... okay, they are actually sparrows but it just sounds more dramatic if they are white doves. At the edge of the roof a girl with short hair dressed in plain jacket and pants is waiting for him with her back turned. It immediately reminds of Nobita of her fading figure from last night.

By any standard, Miyoko is not a girl that will catch your attention on the first glance. She has a very plain face that will blend into a crowd, and simple short hair that'll make you think of a steam bun at most. At the same time, Nobita can't erase the memory of how lonely her backside looks to him.

"Oh, you are here. You don't look too well, but I suppose you have a lot on your mind." Miyoko turns around to face Nobita with a smile on her face. That's when Nobita notices she has a small plastic bag in her hand as she fishes out a juice. "Want something to drink? It'll probably be a long explanation."

"Don't mind if I do." Nobita walks to the senior student as he takes the fruit juice from her. He pops the can open and bring it to his mouth, let the sweet and sour taste washes all over his mouth. It leaves a bitter after taste for some reason, but that may just be Nobita's imagination. "You told me you'll explain everything you know about being a Magical Girl."

"I intend to follow that promise. But first... how much do you know about Magical Girls from Kyubey or Jaiko? They born from wishes, and they fight against Witches who born from curses?" Miyoko asks as she gives the school yard one last good look before she sits down on the roof together with Nobita.

"The wishes, and they fight Witch part. Buttface McFuzzington didn't mention anything about Witches are born from curses." Nobita notices Miyoko seem to try her hardest holding in laughter at his new nickname for Kyubey. "Although that's partially my fault. I broke his brain before he got to that part."

"Really? How did you do that?" Miyoko looks at Nobita with a fascinated face, suggesting it isn't an usual occurrence where someone shut down Kyubey's brain function.

"Trolling him. I spammed him with useless banter for twenty minutes before he drops his head and fall onto the floor. Although to be fair, he did pretty well to last twenty minutes against one of the most irritable behaviour known to human kind." Nobita gives a nonchalant shrug as Miyoko giggles at his explanation.

"Yes, that sounds like good old Kyubey. Taking everything dead serious even when someone's obviously trying to bombard him with useless information. Although you are probably the first contract candidate who actually tries to troll him." Miyoko shakes her head around a little as she pulls two melon bread out of her bag and passes one to Nobita. "So I guess it's my job to explain that part too."

"Please do." Nobita nods alone as he opens the plastic wrap and sinks his teeth to the sweet melon bread from Pantasia. It's soft and sweet, but also leaves him with a bitter after taste. This time Nobita's is pretty certain it's just his imagination.

"Very well... although I have to admit I'm not very good at giving large scale exposition since it's my first time. But if Kyubey gives you the full break down of his contract, is Magical Girls are born through wish. And with their power, they fight against Witch who born through curses and spread despair among human. Such action drives people mad, into either murder or suicide if unchecked."

Nobita can't help but think about both his father Nobisuke, and Dekisugi who mentions about the climbing crime and suicide rate in Saigaku. It's safe to assume the non-politically correct named Witch has something to do with the problem, but the way Miyoko is talking suggest there's something more. "And he's lying?"

"Not exactly. Incubators are actually incapable of outright lying. But on the other hand they don't give you the full information. Funny thing about human brain: When we aren't giving the whole picture we tend to fill in the blanks ourselves. And Incubators are actually quite adapt at guiding us to the conclusion they want us to have..." Miyoko shakes her head as she's about to continue, before an emotionless voice interrupt her.

"That's rather in poor taste won't you agree Miyoko? Giving away classified information without my approval." Nobita and Miyoko turns their head towards the corner as the white bunny cat fox ferret thingy from space walk out of the shadow and into their view.

"Kyubey. I am grateful towards you. But that doesn't mean I'll blindly support everything you do, especially when you are scouting out your newest victims for your magic system." Miyoko closes her eyes and look sad for a moment as she tears a small part of the bread and feed it to Kyubey. Who eats the treat with his usual smiley face.

"Very well. I suppose losing one prospect with below average potential doesn't hamper the operation in the slightest." Nobita can't help but frown at Kyubey's nonchalant acceptance, and the way the cute looking creature speaking about himself like he's not present at all. "Please continue your explanation Miyoko."

Miyoko puts her melon bread down as she picks up her spade shaped necklace with the green oval gem imbued into it. It turns into an egg like jewel in her hand that glows with a faint green light and some spade shaped marking on it. "Remember when I told you being a Magical Girl is a feeble existence... have you seen a Soul Gem?"

"Jaiko used her Soul Gem to heal my wound when we ends up facing against a Witch. Something about it being the source of your magic or something?" Nobita looks at the jewel in Miyoko's hand, he notices Miyoko has a mixed expression when she's staring at it and wonders why.

"Have you wondered why it's called a 'Soul' Gem? It's because it literally contains a Magical Girl's soul inside. This body you see before you is a hollow marionette, controlled by my soul which now reside in this little egg shaped jewel. And that's why I told you Magical Girls are feeble even though we are capable of inhuman feats. All of us only have a short, half life after making our wish and if our Soul Gem leaves our body for more than 100 feet our body stops function. As in... our bodies drop dead."

_Wait a minute... WAIT A MINUTE! Did Miyoko just nonchalantly give out some atomic bomb level spoiler?_

Nobita can feel his stomach starts to tighten up as something is forcing its way up his throat. He fights hard not to start regurgitate what he just eat as he finds himself hunch over the floor. So both Shizuka and Jaiko... they are remote controlled dead girl walking?

"You are looking very pale. Maybe I should stop my explanation right here." Miyoko gently rubs Nobita's back as he gags and cough while taking the information in. Nobita holds up his hand, trying to convince Miyoko he's in fact okay because he wants to know the rest of the story.

"I am... okay. I just need to catch my breath. But please don't stop right here. I'm more bothered about what you said, of Magical Girl being a death sentence." Nobita sharply turns around to look at Kyubey, wanting to know how will the damnable ferret will smooth talk his way out of this. To the boy's surprise, Kyubey is happily munching on Miyoko's melon bread with a smile on his face. "KYU~BEY~!"

"Oh, were you finished all the explanation? Do excuse me, I was too busy eating." Kyubey turns around to regard Nobita's enraged face with his usual deadpan smile. "Or are you angry I'm eating this bread? I do apologize, I thought Miyoko is done with it."

"No, you can have it Kyubey." Miyoko smiles at the damn ferret as she gently scratches his head. Kyubey lets out a satisfied purring sound at Miyoko's touch. "Nobita is just angry about you taking our souls from our body."

"Like everyone when they find out. Well... actually everyone except for you, Miyoko. Frankly I do not understand why human make it such a big deal about their soul need to remain in their fragile body. Your specie even have prolonged debate about whether souls exist or not, so why is it so important they need to remain in your body when you can accomplish so much more when I take it out and then fortify your body with magic?" Kyubey finishes the last bite of his meal before turning around to face both Nobita and Miyoko, his tail waving back and forth as Miyoko continues to run her fingers through his head.

It's very possible the damn ferret is simply making excuse for his own action. But for some reason Nobita actually sees some point in his argument. There are many people who are skeptical about the very existence of soul, so why does every gets angry when they knows they do have a soul, and it got taken out of their body and put into a small glass egg.

"To be fair I was fairly upset at first just like Nobita, but angry or not I have to accept this is what I am. It's not like I lost my free will because of it. Why be resentful and miserable at something that's out of my own control when I can spend the time to do something meaningful?" Miyoko turns around and look at Nobita as she starts speaking once again.

"Although there's more to being a Magical Girl than simply having your soul pulled out of your body. Do you notice the dark taint inside my Soul Gem?"

Nobita looks closer at Miyoko's Soul Gem, and sure enough he realize there's some blackness inside that makes her Soul Gem look dull in its brilliance of emerald green. He looks up at Miyoko. "I remember Tuxedo Mask cleaning Jaiko's Soul Gem with something they call Grief Seed. Recon the taint is bad news?"

"Very bad news. Remember when I told you being a Magical Girl is our death sentence? As we use magic - or simply goes on our daily life for that matter, using magic just make it much quicker - our soul becomes tainted with this dark negative energy. Negative thoughts, such as anger, sadness, jealousy, or most prominently despair speed up this process much faster. When the negative build up exceed our Soul Gem's capacity we forget ourselves, turning into the very thing we fight against. Yes, that's how Witches are born. It born from our souls that is filled with despair, and in term we spread the same despair around the world. That's the only thing Magical Girls can look forward to: You die as a Magical Girl fighting Witches, finding yourself a twisted purpose that fight against your despair but losing your sanity in the process like Kurokami-San, or turns into the very thing you fight against and bring only harm to others..."

Nobita can no longer hear what Miyoko is saying as he finally loses it: He hunches over the roof once again and barfs out the mixture of bread, fruit juice, and whatever liquid that's still in his stomach. He feels a hand running on his back, probably trying to sooth his sudden outburst of throwing up as he hears some gibberish in his head.

So his nightmare from last night was actually true. That means Shizuka is probably dead, lost her sanity like Kurokami, or become one of those eldritch abominations somewhere in this world and Jaiko will be next. For a while it doesn't even occurs to him if he didn't manage to break Kyubey's brain the first night when they meet, it's possible he'll make a wish to help Jaiko fight that Witch and the same fate will await himself.

Nobita doesn't know how long time passed before he recovers from his addled state. But when he comes to, he realize Kyubey is making some comment with his usual emotionless voice. "...Perhaps giving Nobita some food before your explanation was a very bad idea?"

"Yes, I didn't expect Nobita to react this violently at my explanation, but in hindsight giving him food was a very bad idea." Miyoko asks with a concerned voice. "Are you okay Nobita? I'll bring you to the nurses office now..."

"I am okay! And thanks for giving me some food before we started. If I had nothing to throw up in my stomach I'll probably barf out my lung instead." He quickly throws up his arm skywards, and it occurs to Nobita he's probably having some jerky and irregular movement that further convince Miyoko he is in fact not ok. He quickly turns around and snatches Kyubey off his feet as he start to stretch the damnable ferret's cheeks wide like he wants to split up Kyubey's face down the middle. "WHY THE HELL DO YOU DO THIS TO THOSE GIRLS YOU FUCK!"

"Nobita... Not that I don't understand your burst of anger. But maybe stretching Kyubey's face wide is not a good idea if you want to get answer from him." Miyoko looks up at Nobita who currently have a crazy look like Homer Simpson trying to strangle his own son.

_"Not to worry Miyoko. I can communicate with you two with my telepathic matrix even if I can't speak." _Kyubey on the other hand looks very ok for the physical abuse Nobita is putting him through. Maybe he is incapable of feel pain, or perhaps he is so used to physical harm when his contracts find out the truth he is used to receive it. _"But to answer your question Nobita: Entropy. To put it in an easy to understand term, think of a burning bonfire. A fire gives away light and warmth as it burns, but it is not perpetual. Eventually when it runs out of fuel to burn the fire die out, and you are left with darkness and cold because there's no longer energy."_

_"Now put this analogy into larger scale. The universe we lives in is this bonfire. For all of the sentient species in the universe to exist, there need to be energy present. But just like a bonfire, the energy in our universe is not perpetual. Eventually the fuel will run out and all life in our universe will cease to exist due to the extinction of energy. Our specie realize this problem and begin to actively seek solution to entropy, and in our search we find ways to turn emotion - particularly very strong negative emotion - into energy to add to the energy pool of our universe. That is why Magical Girls and Witches exist: To extend the existence of our universe."_

"If you think turning into eldritch abomination is such a noble goal... WHY DON'T YOU DO IT ON YOUR OWN ASS YOU TUB OF FUCK!" Nobita, getting quite tired at stretching Kyubey's face starts to shake the damn ferret up and down.

_"That is not possible. For even before we discover the threat of entropy, our specie notice the flaw of having emotion: It drives self destructive behaviour which will eventually bring about the down fall of any sentient race. So our fore kin, in their wisdom purged all emotion from our specie. There are still couple of Incubator from ancient time who simply sealed away their emotion rather than not having them in the first place. But the number is simply too small to make a difference at fighting entropy by the time we realize the threat."_

Kyubey tilt his head at Nobita as he starts to calm down a little. _"You, and almost every other human who learns about this seem to have some misguided impression we do this simply to torment your race. But really, there's nothing noble or despicable in the Magic System we implement. It simply exist as it is: a way to prolong the end of universe which will be the end of everything. It matters not if one is the fuel or the caretaker of this universe in the end, for we are all insignificant grain of sand, slaves to the rule of the universe."_

Nobita releases his iron grip on Kyubey and lets him hit the floor with a light thud. His anger is extinguished by the last message Kyubey sent to him. Incubator don't have emotion, but at the same time he can't help but feel a certain sadness in Kyubey's point of view. Suddenly he feels very tired like the fatigue from previous two days catch up to him, and he feels older than he has any right to be at his age. "Miyoko, you said you are grateful for Kyubey turning you into a Magical Girl... You are grateful, for this? Living as a remote controlled corpse and eventually become the fuel of the universe?"

Nobita realizes he is probably being too blunt and tactless, but at this point his mind is too strained to care about it. To his relief, Miyoko doesn't look like she's offended in the slightest.

"Yes. I know it sounds crazy... but I didn't get a choice when Kyubey presented his contract to me. I was attacked by a Witch when he asks me to make my wish, and if I didn't become a Magical Girl I would die on that day. As much as mother would hate the idea of me following her footsteps... she will hate it even more if I dies on that day." For a second, Nobita swears he sees a glistering tear forming around the corner of Miyoko's eyes. But she quickly blinks away, and looks fine when she opens her eyes to look at Nobita once again as if the tear is merely Nobita's imagination.

"Wait, you just said your mother was a Magical Girl? Doesn't that means they can at least live long enough to have children?" For a second, Nobita feels like he's trying to grab onto whatever straw floating around him but Miyoko just shakes her head and destroys whatever small hope he still have left.

"Mother was able to live to the day of seeing me slowly grow up because she somehow sealed her Soul Gem. It's like putting the corruption into stasis, and as long as she doesn't try to use magic her soul won't degrade like the rest of us. But I ask around other Magical Girls, and no one ever heard of something like that. I fear it may have something to do with her specific magic power, and with her gone that method is lost forever. For now, all I can hope for is to help all my sisters in any way I can, and may they find small amount of happiness before they are gone. On the day of my passing, if I can say I truly have helped all my sisters to the best of my abilities, I will be able to lose myself with some contentment."

Nobita feels only bitterness in his mouth at Miyoko's statement. For a while nobody says anything as they simply stares at the school yard or the floor before Nobita finally opens his mouth again. "Does Jaiko... knows what will happen to her?"

"I suppose I'm being a hypocrite for not telling her the truth... but would it do anything good to her to let her know she spend her wish on something foolish, and she will turn into one of the very abomination she fights? Maybe I am wrong in this, but I think it's better for her to live in the delusion she gained the power to fight and protect those she loves, and hopefully find some happiness alone the way." Miyoko closes her eyes as she puts her finger through the steel net around the edge of the roof. "Do you need someone to help you to the nurse's office... or escort you home? You don't look too well."

"No, I'll manage. It'll be hypocrite of me to cry over something so trivial when you are able to keep such a strong face after you learned what'll happen to you." Nobita shakes his head as he walks towards the stairs. He loses his footing around third or so stair and rolls down all the way. "Ouch..."

_"I can fix your body with a wish from you, just so you know..."_

"Kyubey... SHUT THE HELL UP!"

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**I realize the way I portrait Kyubey is not very accurate to his cannon behaviour, but that's how I like to picture Incubator as: A eloquent lawful neutral specie without emotion that is only concerned, or almost obsessed with continuing their existence. I do think at this point, too many PMMM fanfic depict Incubator as malicious being who often flat out lie about everything for the sake of being bad, and I do hope the way I write Kyubey (and other Incubators who will eventually appear in the story) can be a refreshing change.**


	8. Daybreak's Beauty

Nobita doesn't remember how he leaves Saigaku Middle School, or much that happens afterwards. For most of the way back home, he simply let his feet take over while his conscious drifts to someplace else. When he comes back to his senses, the glasses wearing 2nd year realize he is standing in front of the crossroad to Saigaku 8th Street instead of his home.

Saigaku 8th Street, this place is somewhere Nobita knows well consider it being the go to place for children to teens: video game arcade, comic bookshop, electronic store, boutique shops, fast food restaurant and cafe of varies type fill up the side walk. Since the sun has not set yet, the street is filled with students who lines up the shop to spend their allowance on the new release of manga, toys, or video games as well as young couples who wants to spend time together before they go back to their respective home. But once when darkness envelop the busy street, it will become the second home to high school students who are confused about their lives.

To all those lost boys and girls, Saigaku 8th Street is better known as The Holy Land. Nobita knows this well, consider himself being one of the lost boys even if he's very young by their standard. Nobita takes a look at some kids who run out a comic book store, each holding a new issue of Shonen Jump in their hand.

_How funny I end up here when I let my feet carry me forward... come to think of it, wasn't that long before I was one of those slackers... Man, four years can be a pretty long time can't it, five if I count that year I was hospitalized due to brain illness. My old slacker life practically feels like another life time ago by now._

If Nobita's mother Tamako hasn't implemented a curfew on him, Nobita would really like to spend most of the night wandering The Holy Land trying to gather his thoughts. All the information Miyoko fills his mind is a lot to take in after all. But as it is... he has to get home before sun down or he can kiss half a year of his allowance goodbye. Still, he has couple of hours, so he decides to simply wander around 8th Street a bit before heading home.

Nobita stops his feet as he hears a growling sound. Turning his gaze towards a dark alley way between a McDonald and a toy shop that sells model he notices a girl slumped over in shadow. Her messy long raven colored hair covers most of her face, making her facial expression completely indistinguishable. Although Nobita does notice she is wearing a light yellow colored blouse that look like some uniform from a fancy rich kid school as well as a dark checked short skirt. A rich kid who run away from home perhaps?

Come to think of it... isn't the girl wearing the exact uniform as that shop lifter who bumps into him last night? Her hair is the same color and style (even though it looks much messier) as said shop lifter. Nobita is ninety percent sure this is the exact same person. It's not really his business, but it's obvious the sound a bit earlier comes from the girl's stomach.

Nobita briefly considers the option of just leave the girl to her own device and continue his soul searching before he inevitably need to head home to avoid his mother's wrath. But then he remembers the few times he run away from home himself (even though he only did such rebellious act in his dream adventures) and how much it sucks to be cold and hungry with no home to return to. He lets out a sigh... this is the time he meets his first pet dog Peko all over again.

With some self loathing in mind, Nobita steps into McDonalds and gets a big Mac combo to go before heading into the back alley and place the paper bag in front of the girl. "Eat this, my treat."

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Before this timeline it never occurred to Homura how much it sucks to be Kyoko. Sure, she has felt pity for the homeless red head from time to time when she's not too busy obsessed about saving (and failing) Madoka or shoving away her self-pity down into the darkest corner of her mind, but those sympathy doesn't go anywhere beyond a conceptual level. Now that she is living like Kyoko, Homura truly understand - and to a point even admires - how strong the spear wielding Magical Girl really is.

After her mental break down number 2 (and subsequently using a spare grief seed to clean her Soul Gem of the corruption due to said break down) Homura decide to head into the busy part of the city to try and gets a better understanding of what kind of a wacky timeline she manages to stuck herself into. Surely the city she is in doesn't look like Mitakihara in the least, but there may be an explanation on why Mitakihara looks drastically different.

When she sees a bunch of billboard with the name 'Saigaku' instead of 'Mitakihara', her break down counter jumps to three. Saigaku is a name that is like that area on your back: just out of the reach of your arm so it's easily forgotten, but immediately springs to your mind when said area begins to itch. It's the name of Mitakihara before it was almost leveled to the ground due to a natural disaster almost 18 years ago.

Homura finds out about that bit of information during one of the earlier timelines when she tries to research possible information about Walpurgisnacht in the library. Apparently, before Mitakihara is build into the modern high tech metal jungle as she knows it, the city used to be named Saigaku and mainly consist of concrete buildings and small houses. It all changed almost 18 years ago when a mysterious natural disaster strikes Saigaku. The information in school library has doesn't goes specific on what happened, with the exception of the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force deployed in large number to help refugee. And couple of old photos that reminds Homura of destruction which rival Hiroshima and Nagasaki after atomic bomb gets dropped.

It definitely look like the work of Walpurgisnacht, or a Witch with equal amount of power at her disposal.

All in all, the fact she's in a city named Saigaku instead of Mitakihara means two things: 1. The disaster that leveled Saigaku to the ground didn't occur in this new timeline, therefore Mitakihara is still Saigaku.

Or it can mean number 2: instead of sending her back to the beginning of her cycle when she turned her shield, it somehow send her 18 years into the past. Which means there's no Madoka around.

Lost in time and no longer knows what she should do, Homura Akemi tries her best to find where her home - and she uses the term loosely consider it's just a place for her to rest as well as planning out her next move - suppose to be in this new timeline. Not surprisingly the apartment she comes to know quite well is not there as a neighborhood of two floor houses reside where it should be. That's when she feels her stomach starts to growl with a furious rumble. Despite all the life threatening drawbacks of being a Magical Girl there are also many benefits to being one, too bad not having to worry about hunger isn't one of them. Kyoko stands a testament to this fact.

Unlike Kyoko , Homura is not really worried about her hunger consider her power can stop time. She has cleaned out arms depot of local Yakuza and Japanese Self Defence Force every single timeline, using it to grab some food is a child's play.

So the raven haired time traveller proceed to ignore the signal of her Soul Gem that indicates there's a Witch nearby. The Magical Girls from this timeline can deal with it as she still has a fairly decent supply of grief seed to last her for a while. After find the nearest 24/7 convenient store Homura starts to raid the racks for something to nourish her hunger needs. It may be all the shocking change of this timeline dulling her senses, or all the jumbled thoughts in her mind all going 100 miles per hour but she realizes the store clerk standing behind her a bit too late.

"Hey, Miss. You need to pay for that sandwich before eating it."

The clerk's voice snaps Homura out of her thoughts. The first thing on her mind is how can a normal human move while she freezes time. Then she notices the world around her is not glowing with the usual tint of time stop effect. Unlike a famous time stopper from a popular long running Shonen manga series, Homura's time stop has no time limit. She can stop time indefinitely as long as she still has enough magic in her Soul Gem, which means one of two things: Either she's running out of magic much faster than she expected, or she's somehow losing control of her own ability.

In a panic, Homura simply throw the food into the face of the clerk before running out of the store. She can hear angry shouting of the clerk, and she's pretty sure she run over some guy who is wandering out late but she doesn't care. All she feels at the moment is a need to keep on running, less about outrun the angry shop clerk than outrun her own fear. After twenty or so minutes of constant running at her top speed, Homura lets herself collapse and fall face down on a river bank.

It may be her imagination, but the grassy hill feels wet and cold. Before this timeline, Homura Akemi used to think constantly repeating the cycle and seeing her best friend Madoka dying or turning into a Witch in front of her own eyes is the worst thing in her life. Now, she'd give anything to simply see Madoka in front of her again. Heck, at this point she'd welcoming the sight of Mami scolding her with her usual patronizing demeanor, or Sayaka's naively antagonize her for her pragmatic ways, or listen to another one of Kyoko's bad jokes...

Anything but the thought of stuck in this new timeline with herself alone in the world.

_I can't just give up like this... I have to find out more about this timeline, and more about why my power is failing... After all those cycles I refuse to just give up, lie down and die._

Homura slowly pushes herself up from the river bank and takes out her Soul Gem again and come to a stunning realization. By all means, she should have notice it much sooner if not for the fact she's too shocked from all the unusual occurrences. Instead of being purple like her eyes, her Soul Gem has somehow become completely transparent. Besides the fact she knows very well her Soul Gem shouldn't be transparent, she has never met a Magical Girl with see through Soul Gem before suggesting something is very wrong...

...Wait a minute... she's never met a Magical Girl with transparent Soul Gem? Why does she feel less confident about this statement as she thinks over it. Could it be she's seen this kind of Soul Gem before, but somehow can't recall it? This should be such an absurd thought, consider over the past hundreds of cycles she's gotten into the habit of noting down the more noticeable things: Like in a certain timeline a Magical Girl called Oriko Mikuni tries (and succeed) in killing Madoka. But... why can't she seems to recall the event that happened in the past few timelines.

Homura starts to furiously search through her memory, but try as she might the time travelling Magical Girl can't recall much events from previous few timelines. In fact, she's not even sure how many timeline she has forgotten. Could be one, two, three or more. Is this sudden memory lose and the fact her Soul Gem has turned transparent signs that her soul finally starts to degrade? If that's indeed the case, why doesn't it start with the more recent memories instead of the more distant memories.

_Don't concentrate on what you already lost Homura, concentrate on what you still remember from last few timelines... I remember... yes, I had some outside help. That's a good start... who are they? Magical Girls I didn't know before? No, that doesn't feel right... I think they are... boys. Magical Boys? I... don't remember who they are. The boy I knows the best is Kyousuke Kamijo because he's Sayaka's love interest... but the idea of that pompous self-centered musical prodigy is a Magical Boy is absurd, isn't it?_

As Homura Akemi thinks about Kyousuke Kamijo she suddenly gains an urge to read novels by Alexander Dumas, particularly 'the Three Musketeers'. Strange thing to be thinking about at the moment, so Homura waves it away and concentrate more on those thoughts of Magical Boys. Then an image flashes in her mind: Underneath a silver full moon, among the high skyscrapers of Mitakihara a boy wearing black undertaker like cloth with a giant scythe at his side stands with his back turned behind Homura. As he sharply turns to gaze at her direction the sky opens up and Walpurgisnacht descend from the sky and smirks at Homura.

Homura's head flies backwards like she's gets a bullet in the head at point blank. She lets herself fall face up on the grassy hill while panting heavily. That is most definitely a Magical Boy, one who apparently made such a heavy impression on her to stay in her memory. But is he a friend or a foe? It's hard to tell if he is preparing to face Walpurgisnacht or somehow siding with her from that one mental image.

In the end, Homura Akemi suppose it doesn't matter. Considering her current predicament, she's going to have a hard time finding Madoka assuming her best friend even exist in this new loop. The easier solution is of course to turn her shield and hope she gets rewind into the correct time and place, but then again Homura is never too sure how her time reversal works. It could be she simply returns to the past, or it could be she creates some 'save point' in a specific time and space and she gets reset into that point. If her ability works in the first way, then it'll make the situation worse if she is indeed stuck in the past, and if her ability works in the second way...

All would be well of course, assuming her power is working correctly. But judging from her time stop power working incorrectly back in the convenient store Homura doesn't wants to risk getting further away from her friend than she already is (assuming this is 18 years ago of course): She's more likely to meet Joan D'Arc or Cleopatra than Madoka if she turns her shield again.

Homura stands up once again and walks underneath a bridge close by and sits in a corner, trying to ignore her rumbling stomach and gets some shut-eye. This plan didn't work too well for her either, as she has trouble sleeping both due to her hunger, and a fear her Soul Gem may corrupt while she is asleep. Eventually she manages to drift off into sleep again but in comes the nightmare. She is fighting against Walpurgisnacht while Madoka watching her on the ground with Kyubey besides her. But this time the familiar dream feels a bit different, out of the corner of Homura's eyes she seems to see a faint, almost transparent apparition near Madoka. It appears to be silently observing her fight, but as the fight draws to a conclusion and she walks to Madoka's body, she hears a faint voice of a boy as the apparition fades away.

"...ka..."

Is the nameless ghost also lamenting over Homura's loss with her? Homura is not sure, she remains sitting on the floor holding onto Madoka's lifeless body as the countless tendrils of Kriemhild Gretchen envelops everything around her.

When Homura wakes up the next day, she realize her Soul Gem has darkened considerably. Probably due to her current unstable mental state. She takes out a grief seed and uses it to clean her Soul Gem again as she starts to wander around Saigaku City, trying to get her bearings and figure out if this is truly 18 years ago, or just a really screwed up timeline.

She eventually arrives at where Mitakihara Middle School should be. To her surprise a different, much older looking school sits at the exact location. Glancing at the sign it reads 'Saigaku Public Middle School'. School seems to be finished as students are exiting the gate either by themselves or among friends. Homura suddenly stops dead on her track as she spots a familiar face amongst the students.

A short girl with a petit figure and short light brown hair and a pair of glasses over her eyes. She looks much younger, and much more timid than in Homura's memory but the time travelling Magical Girl can still tell the one she is looking at is her home room teacher Kazuko Satome... presumably in her pre-teen. Well... it seems over the years Kazuko didn't change much aside from her feisty temper.

Kazuko seems to notice she is being stared at as she takes a short glance at Homura before sliding behind her purple haired friend. Her friend turns back, presumably consulting with Kazuko on what's going on before she snaps back and stumps her way to face Homura. "What do you want buddy? If you have any problem with Kazuko, you talk with me."

Yep... that is definitely her teacher... in her middle school years. Which confirms Homura's suspicion she is in the past. Homura suddenly feel extremely tired, like the weight of all the previous cycles crushing on her body at once so she simply turns away from the girl without saying anything.

"Hi! Buddy! I'm talking with you!" The purple haired girl gets annoyed at Homura ignoring her as she grabs Homura's shoulder. Homura pushes her away as she doesn't wanting to put up with the girl in her depressed state. The girl takes a few steps backwards before falling on her back like an overturned turtle. Homura hears Kazuko and her other friend running towards the purple haired girl as they cry her name.

"Junko/Junko-Chan!"

Wait a minute... did they call her Junko? As in... Junko Kaname (Who is probably still using her maiden name)? Madoka Kaname's mother? Now that Homura thinks about it... her hair and eye color matches Madoka's mother...

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh~" Homura lets out a loud scream as the thought of what she just did hit her - She just hurt the mother of her best friend. She runs away while the students from Saigaku Middle School all look at the raven haired girl with a dumbfounded expression on their face. Once again she keeps on running, till she eventually slumps in the shadow of some back allay street.

Everything is falling apart... she has manage to stuck herself 18 years into the past which means 'Homura Akemi' doesn't exist in government's record. Her power is having some kind of malfunction so she can't simply 'reset' herself back into the correct timeline. And to top it off, her Soul Gem may be degrading as she is sitting in the shadow of this dark allay.

"Eat this, my treat." The sound of a boy makes Homura look up. She realizes the voice belong to someone roughly her age. He has short raven hair, wears a pair of dorky looking round glasses over his eyes (even more so than her old pair of glasses) and a red scarf. He has a dark blue jacket outside the grey colored boy uniform the other students from Saigaku Middle School wears. A McDonald paper bag sits near her feet which she assumes is what the boy bought for her. She hesitate for a moment for she's suspicious about the motive of this total stranger, but the alluring scent of fresh food as well as her overwhelming hunger drivers her to grab the bag and wolfs down its content inside. Oh well... it's not like she has anything valuable on her which the boy wants, and he looks too much of a geek to be a possible sex offender.

The boy stands with his back against the opposite wall as he puts both of his hands inside his pants pockets. "You know... I tried to run away from home. Multiple times in fact. It never ends well and I always end up running back to my family. Well... actually there's that time I got stuck on an isolated island for over 30 years and Doraemon brought me back and turned me back to a child again. But then again... none of those stuff happened. They were all inside my head. Heck, Doraemon doesn't even exist in this world. My point is... I don't know what problem you had with your family but it can't be that bad right? "

The word family makes Homura stop her chewing for a second. It is such a distant word, at least to the time traveling Magical Girl. She can barely recall what her father looks like except he has heart disease much like her. As for her mother... Homura only remembers a frail woman who revolves her life around her husband, and when Homura's father passed away due to a cardiac arrest the woman fall into a deep state of depression and committed suicide not long after, leaving a young and sickly Homura fending herself like Kyoko. Come to think of it... their only major difference is Homura never had a sibling, and her parents left her with a decent amount of heritage so she doesn't need to worry about living on the street.

Thinking back, Homura realizes she should probably treats Kyoko much better than she did. At least she can afford buying the feisty red head lunch once in a while like this boy just did for her.

"Just go back to your home and everything will be fine. Heck... your parents probably worried sick about you as I speak..."

The boy rambles on and on like he is some kind of madman. This confirms Homura's theory he is a complete idiot. Still, he did give her food. While Homura is not a food fanatic like Kyoko she still doesn't like to be indebted to someone. It makes ignoring said people's peril and focus all her effort on saving Madoka much harder.

"Still feeling down huh? I suppose it'll take more than a pep talk from a total stranger to cheer you up, but that's okay... because we are on Saigaku 8th Street! As long as you have enough cash, there's bound to be enough activity to make you blow off steam." The glasses wearing boys says with fake sounding excitement in his voice. He takes Homura's wrist and pulls her up as she finishes her meal and half drags her into a video game arcade not far away. Homura realize she can easily shake free of this persistent idiot, but she is still a little too shaken up due to all the things happened in this new cycle to respond properly.

The glasses wearing idiot stops at the counter and purchases some game tokens before dragging Homura in front of a light gun machine named 'Virtua Cop'. He puts one token in each player slot before handing Homura a light gun. "I'm not sure what girls like to do when they are in arcade... but this is what I do when I want some stress relief. Don't worry, just follow my lead and I doubt you are as bad at light gun as Hideo."

Homura resist the urge to laugh at the boy's face. She has been through hundreds of cycle facing countless life and death battle against Witches and their Familiars, yet this boy wants her to follow his lead in a light gun arcade video game.

She suppose she can humor the boy a little. The boys pulls up his light gun and aiming it at the screen like he is some kind of old western cowboy. "Yipee ki-yay, motherfucker!"

Homura shakes her head in slight disapproval before following the boy's example. "Well... like Kyoko would say: Time to bust balls and eat Pocky, and I'm all out of Pocky."

To Homura's surprise, the boy is actually very good with a hand gun, at least when it's a recoilless arcade light gun. He is very fast at picking up target, and he didn't miss a single shot. While Homura doesn't consider her to be as competitive as Kyoko, the fact this boy is showing great marksmanship does make her wants to also give her all despite this being an old arcade shooter. On the next stage, she starts to get serious and manages to eliminate more target than the glasses wearing buffoon besides her.

The boy gives her a quick glance between the stages. "You are really good. Not the first time playing VR Cop?"

"First time, but I had practices elsewhere." Homura can't help but form a smirk on her face as she gives her long raven hair a swirl. Playing light gun shooter with this boy reminds Homura of a much earlier timeline when she was more naive and used to go to arcade together with Madoka, Sayaka and Mami. There was one time where she and Mami played a similar light gun game together and Mami showed her how to properly hold a gun. In the end the veteran Magical Girl wipes the floor with Homura consider goldilocks' score were almost five times higher, but they did all have a good time.

"You are better than Dekisugi, and don't worry. I mean it as a legitimate compliment this time. That boy is a natural with guns like everything else." The Saigaku Middle School student gives Homura a smile as he change to a more serious face. "I'll need to get serious if I don't want to get wiped by you."

In the next round, the boy steps up his game even more as not only does he manage to hit his target every single time he fires, he scores a perfect round of Justice Shots (where he disable the criminal by shooting their hands). Homura on the other hand retaliate with scoring bullseyes and before both of them realize a normal game of co-op light gun shooter has evolved into a fierce competition to see who can get more scores before they beat the game. A crowd soon gathers around the two of them, and someone in the crowd start to point their fingers at the boy.

"That's Nobita Nobi, the 'sleeping prince' from Saigaku Middle School second year! He holds the highest score in all the light gun games here in Saigaku!"

"But who is the raven haired girl? She is keeping up with Nobita head to head, toe to toe."

In the end, the boy named Nobita manages to beat Homura in their little 'competition' by a few hundred points. Although Homura isn't too particularly upset by it. It's just an arcade game, and he has the advantage of knowing how the game goes before hand. To Homura's surprise she actually had... fun. And to think, she has almost forgotten what a fun time feels like after she loosen her braids and gets rid of her glasses.

"You are really good at this, I only manage to come on top because I been playing this game for a few dozen times now." Nobita puts his light gun back into the slot as he turns to look at Homura. "You feel thirsty or something? I'll go get you a drink, then we'll get you home."

The boy's mention of home makes Homura flinch a little, although she doesn't blame Nobita consider there's no way for him to know about Homura's time displacement. She wonders where she'll spend the night as Nobita squeezes through the crowd to go and get some drink. Before long he comes back with a can of lemonade in each hand and offers one to Homura. "Drink this, and afterwards I'll take you back home. Come to think of it... I didn't even know your name yet. I seen your video game high score signature as HOM so I assume that's part of your name?"

"Homura... I have no family, or home." Homura walks out of the arcade together with Nobita. She opens her lemonade and takes a drink. Her sentence makes Nobita's face twist together like he just got a cannon ball to his stomach.

"I'm... I'm sorry about it."

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Homura lets out a soft sigh as she looks at the pavement. Even though she manages to get herself into a complete mess she has nobody but herself to blame. She can of course blame Kyubey, the abominable fuzz ball from space. But as much as she hates Kyubey, he (assume he is the correct term) didn't really put a gun to Homura's head and force her to repeat the cycles.

"So... your parents passed away, and you got kicked out of your home by an evil uncle or aunt or something?" The boy steals a glance at Homura as he tries to start another conversation. "On the second thought... I probably don't want to know all the gory details..."

"Let's go with that story then." Homura nonchalantly says as she takes another sip of her drink.

"Don't you feel... cold? It's not exactly winter, but the temperature is still pretty low." Homura takes a look at what everyone is wearing before realizing everyone is wearing their winter cloth yet she only has her summer uniform of Mitakihara Middle School.

"I'm fine... achoo!" Homura tries to convince Nobita she is not cold due to her enhanced physical endurance for being a Magical Girl but she lets out a sneeze. Now that Homura thinks about it... sleeping under a bridge near a river while only wearing her Mitakihara Middle School's summer uniform is probably an extremely bad idea. Before she knows it, a red scarf is wrapped around her neck and Nobita puts his jacket over her shoulders.

"Take my scarf and jacket... I'll try to slip back home before my mom realize I'm not wearing those." Nobita's words makes Homura trembles a little. She's not used to anyone besides Madoka showing her uncompromising kindness. Granted, Sayaka, Mami, and to an extend even Kyoko has been her friends in the earlier loops when she still bothers to be friendly with everyone, but they didn't really go out of their way to help her either. She doesn't know why this boy is acting this way, but it makes her scared.

Like if she gets too used to other people's kindness, her resolve to save Madoka would crumble. And she won't be able to hold on to her life and sanity for 18 years to meet Madoka again.

"I'm sorry..." Homura whispers a murmur to herself as she throws both the boy's scarf and jacket on his head before she freezes time. She can only stop time for a few seconds in her current state, but with her enhanced Magical Girl ability she should be able to get far enough away from the boy if she runs and leaps like hell.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Nobita doesn't know why, but he feels he simply can't leave this raven haired shop lifter alone. That's why he seems to revert back to his old clueless slacker persona when he rambles on and on in front of Homura. Deep down, he feels like he is obligated to help her like the same when he meets Jaiko again two nights ago. In fact, now that he thinks about it the feeling is almost exactly like when he meets Jaiko. This girl named Homura reminds of him very strongly about someone. But try as he might, Nobita can't seem to recall anyone from his life who Homura resembles.

Shizuka? Of course not. Shizuka is kind but not afraid to say what's on her mind unlike distant and cold Homura. His first friend, a certain next door neighbour girl who wears a pair of red shoes? No, she was more like Shizuka. Someone else he knows, or maybe someone from his imaginary dream adventure? Now that he thinks about it, Homura does resemble Riruru the alien robot girl. But then again... he's never that close to Riruru. Sure, he tries to tell his 'friends' Gian and Suneo that Riruru is his girlfriend. But that's more about he wants to boast to his 'friends' than him actually want to start a relationship with the cold and emotionless robot girl. The one who manages to form a deep bond of friendship with Riruru is Shizuka, who heals Riruru's injuries (maybe damage was the better term) after the robot girl tries to force her way through the mirror world.

Nobita suppose it doesn't matter in the end. All he knows is he has this strong feeling of helping someone after living a complete aloof life for four years. Despite his brain tells him the futility of forming a bond with someone when he lacks the strength to hold such bond, his heart is telling him to reach out for someone.

And the fact he manage to actually have fun for the first time in four years when he plays VR Cop with Homura back in the arcade. Sure, he has played the same game with Dekisugi or Hideo, or even run solo for countless times but it's nice to meet someone who can actually match up to him in a light gun game. The fierce competition he has with Homura gives him the same excitement as the first time he plays the game. No... in fact, it gives him more fun than the first time he plays the game with Hideo.

Nobita wonders if that means he wants to start a relationship with Homura, but he is not very sure about it. After all He barely knows this mysterious raven haired shop lifter except the clothes she wears suggest she enrolls in a rich school. But as she just tells him, she is homeless and have no family to return to. He wonders if there's more ways he can help her as he takes off his own jacket and place it around her shoulder.

It'll be a bit cold running home without his jacket, but he should be fun if he jogs back all the way. Before he can puts that plan into motion, Homura suddenly throws his clothes back on his head and he swears he hears her saying: I'm sorry.

Nobita quickly pulls his jacket down and tries to look for Homura again. But to his surprise, the raven haired mystery girl disappeared from his sight as if she was never there to begin with.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

**And so we are finally at the point where Nobita, the main character of Doraemon meets Homura, the character who made Puella Magi Madoka Magica possible. I have to say I been wanting to write this chapter for a long time.**

**To tell the truth, originally I had no plan of putting Homura into this story. It originally is a much shorter story where Nobita and his friends (Doraemon cast) live in (an altered) PMMM universe. But the night when I started writing this story I had a dream: I dreamed I was Nobita, and I meet Homura while wandering the street of fictional Saigaku City one night while doing some soul searching.**

**The scene is largely changed from my dream of course due to Tamako imposing a come home before sun down curfew on Nobita (and I think in my dream, me and Homura ends up going into a comic book store to buy Rob Liefield's Young Blood rather than playing VR Cop), but I really like the idea of putting Homura into this story****. I realize Homura and Nobita have a lots in common consider they are both broken due to the loss of their best friend and they are both excellent marksman as well as they both wear glasses (well... Moemura does). Plus, having Homura in the story and have her meeting the parent of her friends while they are still in middle school creates a much more diverse story. I also planned a lots of interaction she'll have with the Incubators of the Warden. I hope it ends up as an entertaining, if not particularly well written story.**


	9. I cannot rely on anyone

5 seconds can be a long time for a Magical Girl with enhanced physical ability. By the time Homura's worldwide time stop collapses she manage to get halfway across 8th Street and atop of the highest building in the district. She takes a deep breath now that her mind is clear and starts to re-access her situation.

So to recap: her Soul Gem has degraded to the point where she can't reliably use her own magical power (assuming that is the correct reason of her Soul Gem turned clear). The only beings who might explain why this is happening are the Incubators consider it's their magic system, but she's definitely not trusting any of those fuzzy abomination to give her a straight answer without trying to manipulate her with half truth one way or another.

In addition to the minor inconvenience of not being able to either stop or reset time correctly. She is stuck 18 years into the past instead of 1 month into the past which means Madoka hasn't even been born yet. Of course, that is assuming Madoka can still born in this timeline consider the pink haired girl's parents probably haven't even meet each other yet. Of course, Homura chooses to properly ignore this detail consider she has enough shenanigan on her plate to feed the whole nation.

On the one hand, now she has 18 years to plan for the Queen of all Witches' eventual arrival (assuming it doesn't show up at end of the year and wreck everything up like she suspected in previous timelines). On the other hand, that also means she need to somehow remain human and sane for 18 years. The good news is she still have a healthy supplies of Grief Seed from previous timelines. The bad news: she's been burning them fast even if she's only been to this timeline for less than 48 hours and haven't engage in any battle. This means she need to eventually start hunting for Witches once again to sustain her Soul Gem. Not a big problem in itself, consider she's done this for over 100 timelines already.

No, the real problem lies in resource management and the inability to replenish them. Consider her time stop power can only last 5 seconds now there's no way she can effectively get her firearm from Yakuza or the military. Even if she starts fighting very carefully and make every shot count, she'll ends up fighting with melee weapon long before Madoka is born. Well... that's a lie. She can still make pipe bomb and Molotov cocktail using household items like she does in her first cycle, but with her time stop ability severely nerf-ed she won't be able to chuck enough of those at the queen of all Witches to deal enough damage.

So Homura is essentially stuck between two very bad situation: lose her sanity and become a Witch herself before meeting Madoka, or face Walpurgisnacht with a golf club and pipe bombs. Neither options are very appealing if she wants to save Madoka.

Homura quickly takes out her Soul Gem again, and to her dismay the raven haired Magical Girl realize her Soul Gem has turned very mucky once again possibly due to her depressed state. She reluctantly takes out a Grief Seed and clean her Soul Gem while digging into her mind for some happy thoughts. Her first repeating cycle, where she went to a theme park with Madoka, Sayaka, and Mami. That was such a long time ago, how naive she was thinking she can make a difference back then...

_The theme park is bustling with family or young couple enjoying a Sunday afternoon before they enviably go back to the much more dull everyday life known as Monday. Even within this vortex of fun and laughter Homura Akemi feels very alone. Growing up without parents and inside a hospital ward tend to make a girl develop a very introverted personality after all. Right now, the nerdy looking girl with twin braid is sitting idly on a park bench twitching her thumb even if she's no longer bond by the physical limitation of her heart condition._

_Homura Akemi thinks she can hear the scream of sheer joy from Sayaka Miki as she enjoys herself on the rollercoaster ride with Mami and Madoka. Mami is probably trying her best to keep her composure of the elegant role model even if she wants to scream at the top of her lung just like Sayaka. As for Madoka... she may be screaming for an entirely different reason. It's hard to tell with the pink haired Magical Girl Homura initially befriended back in the last timeline. She is absolutely fearless at certain time, but very timid on other._

_Like how she manages to pass out last night when they all sit down in front of TV watching Sayaka's collection of old Horror movies even if she saw much worse within Witch's barriers. To be fair, Homura didn't fare much better. She lost her conscious around the same time as her pink haired friend._

_"What are you looking at Homura-Chan?" Homura almost jumps up from the park bench when she hears the sound of Madoka. Quickly turning back, she sees the face of her best friend leaning on the back of the park bench._

_"Madoka? I... I thought you went on that ride with your friends."_

_"You are my friend too Homura-Chan. I won't be much of a friend if I leave you sitting alone on this bench while I have fun with the others." Madoka gives Homura a smile as she sits down besides her on the park bench and leans towards Homura's ear. The timid raven haired girl can feel her face burning up as her friend whispers words into her ears. "Besides... to tell you the truth... I'm afraid to ride rollercoaster with Sayaka-Chan."_

_"You can jump ten feet into the air faster than a speeding bullet, but you are afraid of riding a roller coaster?" _

_"When you put it that way... I guess it's pretty ironic. Don't tell Sayaka the real reason I don't want to ride roller coaster with Mami and her though." Madoka pokes out her tongue at Homura's surprised face. "Back to my question, what were you looking at Homura-Chan?"_

_"Well... I was..." Staring into the void doesn't seem like a good answer, so Homura quickly starts to scan her surrounding to find something interesting. She manage to catch a glimpse of something at the fair on the far side of the park due to her enhanced vision from being a Magical Girl. "Doesn't that doll look just like you, Madoka?"_

_"You are right Homura-Chan, that doll does look like me with the pink twin tail. Come on, let's go take a closer look." Madoka stares at the direction Homura currently points her hand and gives a nod. She takes Homura's hand into her own and pulls Homura off her park bench and starts running towards the shooting gallery. But before the two of them can make much distance they are interrupted by a loud screech from Sayaka._

_"HOMURA!"_

It takes Homura a few second to realize someone is indeed screaming her name. That voice doesn't belong to Sayaka Miki. Consider she's at the same age as Madoka, the blue haired Magical Girl hasn't been born into this timeline either . She looks down from the roof of the shopping mall she's sitting from. She sees a figure running around Saigaku 3rd Street like a headless chicken, bumping into everyone and everything in sight.

Upon better inspection, Homura realize it is the glasses wearing idiot who gives her a meal from McDonald and then pulls her into the arcade. She wonders why that boy is more persistent with her than a frustrated sexual stalker. Well... to be fair Homura still suspect the boy's fascination with her is alone the line of a stalker. She's not too worried about man handling a stupid middle school boy who just run headfirst into a light pole.

Homura mentally cringes as the boy spins around for 720 degrees like a figure skater before falling down on his back. After a while, he gets up and start running around while yelling her name once again like a clueless actor who steps onto the wrong stage without knowing it.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

The sun is slowly setting into the horizon as blue sky gets dyed into a tint of orange. It makes Nobita feel anxious and jumpy. He doesn't like staring into sunset even before his blocked memory got unlocked by Kurokami. It is possibly due to him still remember a fragment of Shizuka being taken away during a sunset. Although a more immediate set back to his physical and mental well being would be missing his 'go home before sun down' curfew imposed on him by his mother.

After Homura disappears when she throw his jacket back on his head, Nobita has to run back into the arcade to make sure she wasn't some figment of his imagination like Doraemon. When he sees her signature right after his on the leader board of VR Cop, he runs outside 3rd Street and sprint into his top speed like he's in an audition for Sonic the hedgehog as he starts to randomly shout Homura's name.

_This is completely unlike me... When was the last time I'm so hell bend on doing something like those idiot protagonist from a badly written Shonen manga? I think it was sometime back in third or fourth grade, although to be fair at those time I'm more determined to outrun the wrath of Gian and Suneo and everyone in between or beyond rather than wanting to do something myself. Come to think of it... was I always this aimless with my life, where I just bumble around without knowing what I want with it?_

_All those people around me are looking at me like an escaped mental patient from some insane asylum. Can't really blame them, I would do the same if I see someone running around street aimlessly shouting someone's name._

A loud bang sound interrupt Nobita's inner thought as his head collide with a light pole. Of course, all the glasses wearing middle school student realize at the time is the world suddenly spin around him until he lies on the pavement with stars in his eyes. His eyes blink once, twice, and three times before he slowly gets up on his legs and starts tumbling down the street again. In the distance, he sees a shade of yellow with long black raven in the distance exit the biggest shopping mall so he runs over the street at top speed again. The boy almost gets hit by a car as the driver angrily shouts some profanity at him. Nobita simply puts on his mental filter as he chases Homura down the street.

As he closing in on the girl, he starts to shout her name again. When she doesn't respond, Nobita runs up to Homura and grabs her shoulder.

The boy gets a slap across his face as he hears the angry screech of a high pitched voice. "Buzz off! Creep!"

Even before Nobita's clear vision returns, he can tell by the voice this girl is not Homura. So he just sits on his ass as the girl walks away. He slams his fist into concrete floor as the girl disappears around a corner, feeling he failed... something. He slowly gets up from the floor once again and turns around, ready to limb home like a wounded dog when he sees a raven haired girl wearing faint yellow uniform and checker skirt in his vision. He has to take his glasses off and rub his eyes very hard to make sure he's not seeing things this time around.

"Are you done crying yourself to sleep now?" Homura's voice carries a stern confidence unlike earlier where she simply sounds lost and even a little helpless. Still, the distantness in every word is unmistakably the mysterious Homura.

The next few seconds happens quickly as Nobita gets ready to tackle Homura into the pavement due to the sheer amount of relief he feels. Lucky for him a quick fist into his gut stops him from completing such action so he won't be detained in a police station for possible sexual harassment. "Are you calm now?"

"Yes... thank you..." Nobita manages to squeeze a few words out between cough as he eats and dry humps the floor. Eventually he manages to pull himself up to his wobbling legs again as he looks at Homura. "So... I guess you needed to go to the washroom really badly or something?"

"Let's go with that story." Homura gives him a blank stare before reluctantly nods alone. "What do you plan to do now that you find me again?"

That's a good question... Nobita is so focused on finding Homura again he has no idea what he'll do next. The glasses wearing boy knows he wants to help Homura, but he's not sure to what extent. He suppose he can bring Homura back to his home and tell his mother he made a new friend in school. But jumping from complete stranger to Best Friend Forever where you bring a girl back home for a sleep over in one day feels like too large a gap to be believable.

Still... now that Nobita manages to finds Homura again he won't just waves her away with a white blanket. Thinking fast, he begins to pounder his options. "I guess I can smuggle some of my old clothes for you so you'll feel a bit warmer... oh, and I think I still has my secret base over on the hill near the thousand years old Cunninghamia tree. It'll probably be better than sleep on a park bench."

"Sounds like a plan." Homura gives another nod as she quietly follows Nobita toward his home.

The two of them spend the next thirty minutes in complete silent, both trying to sort out their conflicted mind. Nobita spends the entire trip tries to understand why he suddenly develops this obsession with Homura. Then again... it's not the first time he acts out of an impulse. Half an hour flashes by as Nobita stops outside of his home's garden wall.

"You stay here while I climb over the wall inside and try to bag some of my old clothes and throw them at you out of my window. I'll also add a map for you to find my old secret base." Nobita turns to Homura as he jumps up and grabs onto the top of the wall. Homura gives him a push on his feet as he struggles to balance himself over the wall. Nobita gives Homura a nod out of gratitude before he's ready to hop down to the other side only for him to drop himself like a rock as his pet Ichi starts to howl up a furious storm.

"Oh for crying out loud Ichi... do you have to yell every time when I tries to go for stealth? Now I know why Solid Snake never has a pet dog." Nobita rubs his aching butt as he steadies himself on the wall. His pet dog lets out a sad whimper, but starts to bear his teeth out again when he sees Homura appearing right besides Nobita. "How did you get inside our garden?"

"I jumped over the wall." Nobita looks up at the wall and then look right back at Homura before shaking his head in defeat. As Homura and Ichi locks themselves into a staring contest, Nobita's other pet dog Peko silently walks beside Homura's feet. The white dog looks up at Homura with curiosity in his eyes before poking out his tongue and starts licking Homura's hand. For a moment Nobita is a little worried Homura may kick Peko away with disgust, but she simply remain still on the spot and examines the dog with blank expression.

"You like dogs?" Nobita looks at Homura as she kneels down and pick Peko up again as she looks at the curious looking dog.

"Dogs huh..." Homura blankly stares at Peko for a solid thirty seconds before she spontaneously breaks into a mad laughter

"I... love dogs! Dogs embodies loyalty! Be a jerk to them and they won't complain! They never bothers for a paycheck! Oh, loyal dog how we salute THEEE~" The raven haired girl starts to dance around in circle while still holding onto a confused Peko like a ballet dancer.

...

"You think she lost her consciousness, Ichi?" Nobita sits down besides his brown dog as he scratches Ichi's ear. Meanwhile Homura freezes in place holding Peko like she's stopped in time. Although if Nobita's mind isn't playing trick on him, there's some shinny sparkles glistering in Homura's eyes and they aren't tears.

Moving sideways like he's role playing a crab, Nobita gets ready to sneak into his home and then his room located on the second floor and bundle some of his old sweater and jacket for Homura before he's caught red handed by his mother's voice. "Who did you brought home, Nobita?"

"A... new friend I met in school." Mentally cringing at his bad luck, Nobita decide to try and fake Homura as one of his new classmate. It's not like his mother has an exact grasp of what everyone of his classmate look like.

He quickly runs besides Homura and tucks at her sleeves. "New plan, mom found out about you. So you need to pretend you are a new transfer student at my school to not rise any suspicion."

Homura breaks out of her trance as she looks at Nobita. She has a funny expression on her face that is stuck halfway between relief and 'are you fucking kidding me'. Although after a few seconds of digesting the situation she settles into a nod once again. "I had practice elsewhere."

Nobita opens up the sliding door to the living room and Homura follows him shortly afterward. The track towards the dining room is a much too short for either of them to formulate much thoughts. As Nobita opens the door to the dining room, he is confronted by Tamako's usual angry screech. "Who is this young lady you just invited to our home? Both of you look like a mess! Did you two got into a fight?"

"Well... Homura here just moved into town and I decide to show her around Saigaku a bit. We went to 8th Street before my curfew's up. It's a shame we ends up meeting some delinquent while playing arcade. Although in our defence, they throw the first punch." Nobita manage to crack a fake smile at his mother as he looks at his father for some assistance. Good thing that's a feeling Nobisuke reciprocated on the spot.

"Let's just be glad neither of them look hurt Dear, and it's such a rare occasion for Nobita to invite a girl home. We should give his friend a good first impression don't you agree?"

"Can I have another bowl of rice, Tamako?" A unfamiliar voice makes Nobita turn his head towards dinner table. To his complete surprise, two Kyubeys are sitting on the table while happily munching on some rice and miso soup. Well... one Kyubey, and another Kyubey lookalike with blue fur who is missing the cat ears. The one who is currently asking for a refill is the blue Kyubey as he rises one of his bunny ear which holds the bowl like an extra hand.

Before he can ask why Kyubey and his little friend decide Nobi resident equals a free all you can eat buffet, two loud gunshot makes Nobita jump up from his feet as both Kyubey fall off the table with a bullet hole on their head. Nobita quickly turns around to see Homura wearing a white blouse with black trims and a futuristic looking round buckler on her left arm while holding a handgun in her right hand.

Well... crap... there goes any hope of convincing his parents Homura is just a transfer student in his school...

"Hmm... would you look at that. Nobita's new friend happens to be a Magical Girl. Explains why Kyubey and Dorabey suddenly decide to stop at our household for dinner after all those years." Nobita sharply turns back to look at his parents, who both look unfazed in the slightest Homura suddenly sporting firearms and just shot the two cute abominations known as Incubator.

"Wait... you two knew about Magical Girl?" Nobita feels the need to slap himself right after he blurt out the question. Of course his parents know about Magical Girls if Kyubey decide to stop by for dinner like he owns their home.

"It's kind of hard not to known about Magi when we both used to be one." Tamako and Nobisuke exchanges a knowing smile at each other as they opens up their palms. Their wedding ring quickly untangles themselves and become oval shaped glass jewels resting in the center of their palms.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Of all the things Homura expects, she certainly doesn't expect to see Kyubey's miserable face so soon. Ok, technically the little white bastard is sitting with its back towards Homura, so Homura can't see its face. But the point is: when the time travelling Magical Girl sees Kyubey and its blue friend, her 'must kill Incubator' mode immediately takes over her motor function as she transforms into her Magical Girl form and give each one of them a bullet to the head.

After her action has already taken place, she realizes two things: One, she just wasted two perfect good bullet on those infinite re-spawn abominations. And number two, she shoots two Incubators in the head in front of two adult.

Well... there goes any chance she may have about receiving aid from the glasses wearing buffoon and his family. Better get ready to pull another time stop and then run like hell.

Imagine her surprise when those adult simply shrug the situation off like it's some kind of everyday occurrences, or when they pull out their respective Soul Gems. She wonders if she steps into a trap where an adult Magical Girl and an adult Magical Boy are in cohort with the Incubators. It seems this new timeline keeps on giving.

The situation won't be too dire if she still has her time stop power fully in check. Unfortunately for Homura, her time stop does seem to have a mandatory five second limit, as well as very long cool down time before she can use it again. So she decide to keep her trump card hidden for now till the moment when she absolutely needs it.

Turns out this ends up being the right choice, since the mother's next response completely baffles Homura. "You know young lady... not that we don't understand your hatred against those damn honey badgers, but do you mind not pull out a fire arm next time? We don't appreciate the neighbour calling police to our home because they think we have a severe case of domestic violence and in breach of possessing illegal fire arms."

To drive Homura's confusion further, Nobita's mother pulls out a sledgehammer out of the cupboard and hand it to Homura. "I suggest you use the sledgehammer next time. Fast, blunt, and very satisfying when you crush those cretin's skull in. And to top it all off... you don't even need to worry about making a mess in my house. Those little ferret will offer to clean themselves up during their next re-spawn."

"Thanks... but I think I'll stick with my golf club next time." Homura raises one of her eyebrow at Nobita's mom before handing the sledgehammer back to her. Fast and blunt approach feels more Sayaka than her style. She's not too keen on being reminded of the Magical Girl who usually turns into a Witch by the middle of a timeline.

"Good choice." Tamako gives Homura a nod as she takes her sledgehammer back and turns toward the dining table again. "You can stop playing dead now, Dorabey."

It takes Homura a few moment to process who this 'Dorabey' is. It is a good thing the blue Incubator extends out his ear, grabs onto the edge of the dinner table and pulls himself up the table once again. Homura is pretty sure she can still see a small indent on the cute looking abomination's forehead where her bullet connects. "Getting shot in the head is never pleasant, although I can't say me or my kind don't deserve it."

Homura is pretty sure she manages to discover something else that's new to this timeline: An Incubator who is actually self-conscious. Although the iron clad time traveller does wonder if self-consciousness make this particular Incubator better or worse than Kyubey.

"Well... self-conscious or not, I think it's suffice to say all we Incubators are sons of bitches in the end." As if reading her mind, the blue furred Incubator cocks his head and says in a tone which akin to self-mockery. The very thought is absurd to Homura. How can an emotionless race possess the humor to mock its own existence.

It's more likely she simply mistaken patronization with self-mockery. Regardless, she's not going to argue with the statement itself.

"Touché..." Homura turns her head away with disgust only to witness Kyubey devouring his own corpse the ten millionth time.

"Hey, Kyubey. How does yourself taste?" Nobita's voice sounds like an unwanted house guest... except he belongs to this household.

"Like wax, but very filling. There's no sense wasting perfectly good material when the universe is facing its death wouldn't you agree?" The white fuzz ball raises his head and glance pass both Nobita and Homura. Its soulless beady red orb focuses on Homura. "Interesting... I don't remember contracting you, yet you carry the magic signature of one contracted by me. If I don't know better, I would suspect you come from a parallel universe."

Kyubey wouldn't be Kyubey if its action doesn't intentionally or unintentionally cause Homura unlimited amount of grief. The two adults, as well as Dorabey focuses their gaze on Homura. As for Nobita the glasses wearing idiot... he simply walks to the dinner table, pulls out a chair and sits down like the idiot has already give up making sense out of the situation and decide to go straight for dinner.

"You aren't really Nobita's classmate are you, young lady?" Tamako starts to inspect Homura closely from head to toe. "No offense, but there's something off about you the moment you steps into the room. Now I think about it... the style of your cloth looks like it belong to a different decade."

_Well... Better get ready to pull the disappearing act...Still not sure what their magic abilities are, but as long as it's not time stop like me, I should be able to get away._

Homura gets ready to reach for her shield. Before she can complete her act Nobisuke stands up from his seat.

"Please, everyone just calm down now. Miss Homura, I know my wife can be forceful, even overbearing sometimes but she's only got good intention. She's not trying to interrogate you, just trying to see if there's anything we can do to help. We do understand some of your plight since we were more or less in your shoes not that long time ago. So why don't all of us just relax, sit around the table and have some idle conversation over a nice dinner?"

The voice of Nobisuke is calm and inviting unlike his wife who is energetic and confrontational. Homura can't help but feel those two complement each other's personality well, as well as feeling draw in by Nobisuke's suggestion. Still, she's not ready to completely trust someone who invite Incubators to their home dinner yet. Shooting a glare at Kyubey and Dorabey, she remains standing upright at the door instead of coming into the dining room. "I'll stand in the door for now."

"Very well, but do feel welcomed to join us for dinner anytime you want to. It won't be polite if we make our guest stand at the door while we enjoy our food." Nobisuke gives Homura an understanding smile and nod as he returns to his seat.

"So, Nobita." The boy visibly tenses at his mother's voice. "Did you went on a Witch hunt with Homura here today, or yesterday?"

"No." Nobita mindlessly shakes his head before he realizes there's something wrong with his answer.

"Ah, so you do know what is a 'Witch'. Is that how you meet Homura here?" In Homura's eyes, Nobita seems to visibly shrinks two sizes under his mother's intense gaze.

"No! I'm more surprised at Homura being a Magical Girl than you two remember? I just thought she's some rich girl who run away from home and needs a place to stay." Nobita blunts about as he wipes cold sweat from his forehead. "Although yes... I do know what's a 'Witch'. I faced one with Jaiko two days ago..."

"That Goda girl right? So she decides to follow her mother's footsteps..."

"Gian and Jaiko's mother used to be a Magical Girl too?"

"Of course. We used to be rivals back when we were your age..." Tamako seems to suddenly realize something as she sharply turns to regard Kyubey and Dorabey. "Kyubey! Dorabey!"

Both Incubators faces Tamako with their expressionless face. "Yes, Tamako?"

"I know what you two are planning, so let me make this clear to you two: None of you are going to contract my boy as one of your Magical Boy, or Warden, or whatever you are going to call it. Unless either of you fancy having me shove my claymore down your throat and then slow roast you over a pit of fire. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear!"

"Duly noted." Both Incubators gives the same response, although Homura observes Dorabey flinch a little at Tamako's threat almost like he is scared. She shakes her head, convincing herself it's merely her imagination playing trick on her mind.

Speaking of Nobita's mother... this woman certainly gives Homura lots of mixed signals regarding her disposition with the Incubators. On one hand, she threatens both Kyubey and Dorabey bodily harm for contracting her son which suggest she is perfectly aware of Incubator's little scam. On the other hand... she seems to be very content feed those abominations food. Homura isn't sure if such a woman can be trusted.

Trust... the term has become very foreign to Homura, at least for the past hundred loops or so. She used to be naive, with more hope than there are stars in the sky. At one point she truly believes as long as she works hard with her friends they will find a way to save Madoka. But her hope is dashed every cycle when her 'friends' lets her down one way or another. She becomes cold, and distant towards anything other than the goal of saving Madoka's life. In fact, she tend to treats even Madoka with a cold and distant attitude, fearing friendship with Madoka in a new cycle would only lead to more pain when she fails to save the pink haired girl. She would trust no one but herself, and when she finally find a way to save her friend it would be through her resolve and self-sufficiency.

That is when she still has full access to her own power, and knowledge of all the variables within the confined cycle. Now she's lost in a wrong time, in a wrong place she wonders if she can even hold out long enough to see Madoka once again as she think over her options: Tell the Nobi family of her plight, and hopefully gain some aid from them or shut herself away from them like everyone else from the loop. And if she wants to tell the truth, how much bean she needs to spill out to both get her point across but not sounding overly suspicious.

She wonders what will happen if she does starts to rely on others for help after all those loops.


	10. A soldier's rest

It has been such a long time since Homura simply sits down and relax herself from the task of sparing Madoka the fate of becoming a Magical Girl. She realizes she has forgotten most simple pleasures in life. Pleasure such as taking a cold shower at her leisure and then sit on a balcony or patio and feel the cool evening wind brushing against her face or hair.

Right now she is in a pajama three sizes too large for her and a pair of bunny slippers on account of all her original clothes are now in a washer. She sits on the wooden step of Nobi resident, watching her 'brother' Nobita Nobi swinging away with a wooden baseball bat in the garden.

Her brows twist together as Nobita starts resemble more and more as one of her old acquaintance: Sayaka Miki. They are both idiot who charge ahead into their first problem then try to solve it by banging their head against the wall. And now, they both play baseball apparently...

If her 'brother' is as much hopeless romantic as Sayaka... Homura can already predict how his life will end.

"You are going to catch a cold if you only wear a pajama." A blanket is wrapped around Homura's shoulder. She hears the disapproval voice of her 'mother' Tamako. She is about to let out a scowl but instead holds the blanket even tighter. It shouldn't make that much a difference consider her body's enhanced resistance due to being a Magical Girl zombie, but the blanket really does feel warm.

"I'm not worried about getting a cold, I can heal myself using magic." Homura lets out a weak protest as she tries to uphold her pride. She gets a mug of hot coco into her free hand for the effort.

"It's a silly way to waste your magic when you can simply stay warm. Here, have some hot coco." Homura gives Tamako a nod as she slowly take a sip of the hot coco. It's a bit bitter, reminds Homura of the chocolate from a Pocky stick Kyoko loves so much. She never understands why Kyoko has such a fascination with Pocky stick for life is too bitter as it is.

Homura remembers Kyoko mention something about "you have to appreciate the bitterness to appreciate the sweetness even more" during her third timeline. The raven haired time traveller is pretty sure the homeless redhead simply speaks out of irony.

Still, the coco is warm just like the blanket, so Homura simply sits on the wooden step, quietly sipping her hot coco while watching Tamako goes into the garden and hands the other mug to her biological son.

Funny how fast your life changes with one simple decision. In Homura's case, her decision of trying to trust Nobi family.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Homura ponders the options she has. Looking past her pride the raven haired time traveller knows very well she needs all the help in this world if she wants to have a real chance of meeting let alone saving Madoka in this timeline. Not to mention the fact she doesn't lose anything if she can't persuade Nobi family since she would simply go back to square one: living like Kyoko.

On the other hand... if this family really does have some kind of back door dealing with Incubator she may wake up on an operating table getting probed by Kyubey. And consider how unreliable her power has become, she can't rewind herself out of the situation.

Homura makes a decision after a brief moment of pondering the pro and cons she realize the possible pros out weight possible cons.

_If this ends with me getting probed... I am really going to kill Kyubey another hundred times._

Taking a deep breath while looking at Nobi family sitting around for dinner, the time traveller opens her mouth with a stern voice. "I'm ready to tell you about myself. But first..."

Homura points her across Kyubey and Dorabey around the table. "...I don't want those two listening in on my story."

"Fair enough, I don't want those damn honey badger to know my life story either." Tamako gives a nod as she stands up, walk to another cupboard and takes out a Dorayaki treat. She throws it toward the garden like a Frisbee. "Hey, Dorabey. Think fast!"

"DORAYAKI~!" Dorabey leaps up into the air like a well trained dog and catches said treat with his mouth. The stunt looks impressive even to Homura, consider the blue furred Incubator manages to wrap his tail around Kyubey's neck and drag the white furred cute alien with him.

_Dorabey: "We'll be back after you gives me a telepathy signal. And don't worry about Kyubey listening in to your conversation. I'll make sure to put up a telepathy barrier to prevent him and myself from doing so."_

_Kyubey: "Should I say: Foiled again. This is not the end of me?"_

Dorabey gives Nobi family and Homura a salute using his bunny ear as he drags Kyubey away like a ragdoll. Homura simply glares dagger at those two cute looking abominations as they slowly retreat from her field of view. "I'm not sure an Incubator's word can be trusted."

"You know very well they can't lie." Homura frowns at Tamako's word, mainly because she knows Tamako has a good point. "Now... do you feel like coming clean, young lady?"

"I will now, but you won't believe my story." Homura says with a serious face while staring from Tamako to Nobisuke. They both gives her a chuckle as a reply.

"You do realize we are two of the rarest things when it comes to being a Magi: A Magi who lives long enough to raise a kid, till he's at the age when he can become a Magi himself. We seen our share of crazy things in our lives." Tamako lets out a prideful laugh as she abruptly glares at Nobita. "Doesn't mean I approve of you become a Magi, so don't get any funny ideas young man!"

"Figures... I never get to do anything cool in this house..." Nobita lets out a muffled grumble as he lowers his head and bury himself into his rice bowl once again.

_That idiot has a very twisted definition of what defines being 'cool' if he thinks losing his soul and become a self-aware zombie is cool..._

Homura fights her urge to roll her eyes as she takes another deep breath, thinking over the amount of information she's willing to give to Nobi family. "I... come from the future. I lost a very important friend, so I made a wish with the Incubators to see her again and gained ability to travel through time. But I accidently reversed time too much, and ends up eighteen years into the past where my friend hasn't even been born yet."

That's a horribly condensed version of her past and it leaves out the part she's been over hundreds of cycles failing to save her friend. Homura is pretty sure that's enough information for Nobi family to gain some sympathy yet not enough to make them too cautious about helping her.

Nobita looks up from his dinner and stares at Homura. The stoic time traveller sees something in his eyes that looks strangely like... empathy? But surely a buffoon like him can't possibly understand how she suffered. "So that's why you said you have no home and no family. Must be tough gets stuck in time like that."

Tamako on the other hand doesn't look too impressed with the story. She taps the table with her index finger for five times, before nonchalantly asks. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean: is that all?" Homura is thankful she's not eating or drinking anything at this moment. The stoic time traveller is pretty sure she'll end up chocking on her food or drink if not outright blow them out of her mouth.

"Sorry if my wife comes off too blunt. She doesn't mean to insult your predicament. It's just... well, you did say we won't believe your story so we were both thinking some very elaborate and strange background you may have." Nobisuke scratches the back of his head and lets out a smile that almost look like he's embarrassed.

"Someone from the future doesn't surprise you two any way at all?" Homura raises one of her eyebrows. The response from Nobi family, except the glasses wearing boy is anti-climatic from her expectation to say the least.

"After you meets Magical Girls from the past, other planet, some subterranean civilization, alternate reality... a Magical Girl from the future simply feels like part of the package." Tamako gives a nonchalant shrug. It makes Homura wonders if the mother is pulling her leg, or actually lived such a rich life of bizarre occurrences. From the expression Tamako's moron of son currently gives her mother... Homura deduces she's not the only one in the room thinking this thought.

"I'm going to take a leap of faith and assume your power can only take you to the past, which is why you still remains in this timeline instead of trying to return to the future?" Nobisuke strikes his chin with one of his finger. Homura lets silence be her answer. To tell the truth, Homura isn't too sure how her time reversal works. She's not about to try to rewind herself into the correct time when so many things can go wrong.

"That's not your full story and you are trying to hide something, young lady. Oh, don't give me that look. You are talking to a mother. Spot a lie from child is How to be a Parent 101." Tamako puts her hands on her waist as she stands up from the chair. "It's decided then. Until either you, or us figure out a way to get you back home, you are staying with us. We'll adopt you as our daughter for the remainder of your stay."

"WHAT?" Both Nobita and Homura sharply turns to stare into Tamako's eyes. Such decision seems to come out of the blue even if Homura doesn't want to complain about having a free place to stay in the past.

"It's a logic solution no? A Magical Girl without a goal tend to fall into despair much easier than one with a goal in sight. Having family to talk about it can help alleviate such a fate much more. Plus, if worst come to worst... this house hold has two veterans. We will be able to... keep things under control."

Homura frowns at Tamako's explanation. She doesn't like to think about the possibility of herself fallen into despair and turn into a Witch like Sayaka often does (and both Mami, Kyoko at some timelines). Still, she agrees with Tamako's assessment. Her becoming a Witch is a likely possibility if she can't find a good goal to anchor herself or find a way to return to the correct time. When that eventually happens she'd rather have someone puts her out of her misery rather than lets her continue as a grotesque twist of her real self.

Despite the cold and distant face Homura puts on herself, she does still have a conscience. She secretly feels guilty every time she chooses to ignore the plight of people in danger when she focuses on saving Madoka instead of everyone else. Turning into a Witch and starts to harm innocent people, be it Madoka or someone else isn't something Homura wants. At that point, having Nobi family destroy her corporeal form would be akin to mercy killing.

"I... see your point. Very well, I guess I will be in your care for now." Homura reluctantly lowers her head and gives Tamako a nod. The mature woman looks positively ecstatic as a result.

"Wonderful! I always want to raise a daughter, and my idiot of a son could learn something about responsibility by having a sibling." Tamako claps her hands together while Nobita lets out a undignified grumble at her remark. "That means you are expected to be in school by tomorrow young lady. I won't raise my daughter to be a NEET."

For a moment, Homura is completely speechless at Tamako's ability of jumping from point to point. And judging from the response of her 'brother', Homura is once again not alone.

"Aren't we forgetting something..." Nobita rises his hand as if trying to get some attention from his mother. "Homura just said she got stuck in the past. So she doesn't exist in this timeline. How can we make her enroll in a school, and by tomorrow morning no less if she has no record in our government system?"

"Easily solved, DORABEY!" Tamako snaps her finger as she calls out the blue Incubator's name. Both cute alien abominations reappear out of the shadow from the corner.

"I take your discussion is done?" The blue Incubator turns his head and look at the four humans in the room one after another with curiosity in his eyes.

"Homura needs some document forged to enroll her into my son's middle school. Make it happen." Tamako turns around and orders Dorabey like a queen ordering her most loyal servant. Homura doesn't like the fact Tamako is relying on the Incubator's help to get her document forged. Then again, she suppose those damn vermin will discover her secret one way or another.

"Who's going to sell his soul for this contract?" Homura let out a scowl at Tamako's request as she takes a quick look at Nobita. Well... this moron is the only one in the room left with a soul to sell to Satan's little helper.

"Don't worry Homura, it's not a contract but a favor. Consider this as my way to repay Tamako for feeding me... and also..." Dorabey leisurely stroll besides Tamako's feet before he extend out his fluffy rabbit ear out like begging for a treat. "...DORAYAKI~!"

"Here you go, you greedy honey badger." Tamako takes another Dorayaki treat out of the cupboard and drop it into Dorabey's ear. Kyubey's reaction to such exchange is to simply cock his head sideways.

"I can never understand your fascination with that particular kind of food." Kyubey says with his usual emotionless tone.

"And I can never understand how you go about for more than 600 years with your business without enjoying your life in the slightest." Dorabey swishes his tail across Kyubey's face like he's trying to slap the white vermin before disappearing into the night once again.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

With that short exchange, it is decided Homura will be going to Saigaku Middle School with her 'brother' under the name of Homura Nobi. The time travelling Magical Girl doesn't have any objection to such arrangement. Eighteen years is an awfully long time to sit through if she just lie on her back and does nothing. School is as good a place to pass the time as any.

Although there is a tingling sensation in the back of Homura's mind something bad will happen. She can't figure out the source of this impending doom feeling so she shoves it into the back of her mind like every other thought she can't figure out.

"I'll take it to the sink." A voice makes Homura rises her head as someone's hand pick up the empty mug on the wooden floor. She sees her 'brother' Nobita Nobi standing in front of her, sweat dripping down from both his messy short hair and his head from the intense work out. The raven haired Magical Girl supposes she should say something to her 'brother' on account of being polite. Although she's at a loss for word what should be said. She's never been talkative for one reason or another when she's with other girls, let along with a boy.

"...Isn't it too early to practice for baseball season?" After a short second of pondering Homura decide to throw in the towel and just speak out the first thing on her mind.

"Maybe, but I don't want to get sloppy. Last year our school team lost in the first round." Nobita gives Homura a shrug as he exit the room.

That brief attempt at conversation goes well... Nobita didn't immediately starts antagonizing her like Sayaka, so that's a success in Homura's book.

Homura hears the sound of the shower turning on after a short time. So her 'brother' is in the shower. He probably wants to wash all the sweat and dirty away after a heavy exercise. While this is going on, the raven haired Magical Girl decide to stop looking at the wall and take a short walk around her new 'home'. Her exploration ends up in a boy's room which she assume belongs to her 'brother'.

The iron clad time traveller gets the impression from a bookshelf mainly consist of manga on the left side wall. It's not surprising as Nobita doesn't come off as the literature type. Other than the bookshelf, there's the closet on the right side, and a desk right against far side wall and window which overlooks the garden.

It is quite a simple room to the point of being shabby at this age. Upon closer inspection Homura realizes the room is much neater than she initially thought. There's no rubbish on the desk, and all the study materials are well arranged. Even the manga and a few encyclopedia on the bookshelf is in alphabetical order.

While Homura enjoys reading, she's never a manga type and she much prefers old school literature rather than graphic novels. That becomes especially true when her whole life turned into some perverted version of Magical Girl manga. She finds it rather insulting when some idiotic protagonist in a manga can pull off some stupid stunt to save the day due to plot convenience, but herself forever lives in agonizing failure.

Still, one of Homura better known acquaintance is a big time manga and anime fan. During one of the earlier timelines when Homura still bothers to make friend with everyone, said friend of her tries to convert her down the path of manga. It doesn't go well due to various reasons.

Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Getter Robo... all the battle and mecha oriented Shonen manga reminds Homura of Sayaka's room. Except the blue head's shelf is a complete mess.

Homura traces her eye along her finger that runs over the edge of the bookshelf. An old manga suddenly catches the raven haired girl's attention as she pulls it out of the shelf: Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

_Homura doesn't know what she should do when Sayaka invited Madoka and herself for a home visit. Especially since the blue haired tomboy seems to be from a different dimension than the more literature savvy, glasses wearing nerdy girl. She looks at the bookcase in complete wonder, reading through the names of Sayaka's manga collection._

_"So, what do you want to watch Homura-Chan? I got Dragon Ball Z, GT, Macross 7, and Gundam Wing." The tomboy with short blue hair throws her bag into a chair as she starts pulling out jewel cases one after another from her anime collection and throw them into a small pile on the floor._

_"Ah... I don't know. I never heard of those animations before." Homura gives the excited looking blue head a sheepish smile. That is not exactly the truth, the truth is more like the raven haired girl didn't even know what animation is as she always prefer to immerse herself to an old fashioned literature book than something more graphical. Right now she seems to be learning a different language from Sayaka despite said blue head is speaking perfect Japanese._

_"Really? Not even Dragon Ball? Have you been living under a rock? That's like, one of the most-est popular-est anime in forever!" Sayaka jumps up to her feet as she holds the jewel case of Dragon Ball Z into Homura's face. It is almost like the blue head believes rubbing the jewel case into Homura's face will somehow trigger the switch for a non-existing memory. Homura feels her breath is getting heavier despite she's no longer burdened by her heart condition due to her being a Magical Girl._

_"Please don't be too hard on Homura-Chan, Sayaka-Chan. Besides, I didn't even know about Dragon Ball till you start asking me to watch that anime with you." Madoka steps in front of Sayaka and Homura, holding Sayaka's left hand with her right, and Homura's right hand with her left. "Let's just have a fun afternoon together. Do you have any recommendation, Sayaka-Chan?"_

_"Then how about we watch my favourite? Gurren Lagann!" Sayaka suddenly pulls a blanket and tie it around her neck like a cape. The tomboy grabs her baseball bat and rest it on her shoulder like a sword. She throws Dragon Ball Z onto the floor and pull out another Jewel Case while staring Homura with a serious face. "Homura!"_

_"H..Hai!" Homura instinctively stands straight up and gives a meek reply._

_"Stop believing in yourself! Believe in Sayaka and Madoka who believe in you!" The blue head points her index finger at Homura with an extremely commanding voice. Sayaka looks very impressive to Homura for a second before bursting out of laughter. "Pretty neat huh? It's a quote from my favourite character in Gurren Lagann."_

_"Yes... it is very neat. Although what does it mean?" Madoka claps her hand while cheering her friend before giving Sayaka a no clue face. The blue head almost fall over as a result._

_Homura bends down to her knees and start looking over Sayaka's anime collection while the blue head busies herself explaining to Madoka the greatness of her quote, and by extension the anime. The raven haired girl starts to trace her finger and pulls out an anime that feels a bit more... adorable?_

_"Princess Knight?" Homura takes a good look at the picture on the cover. It features a girl dressed in a medieval style hat and a blue shirt. While Homura thinks the girl look pretty in her own way, there's something you don't associate the cover character with the tradition meaning of being a 'princess'. Her posture looks boyish and heroic despite also being feminine._

_It is a rather strange mix, but Homura has to admit it works._

_"Ah! What's my mom's old anime doing in my collection!" The jewel case quickly gets snatched away by Sayaka. When Homura looks at the blue head, she realizes Sayaka has a fierce blush on her head that makes her look like a ripe apple._

_"Isn't that a blue-ray? I wasn't aware they used to make blue-ray back when Mrs. Miki watch anime." Madoka pokes one finger on her own chin as she inspects the jewel case of Princess Knight._

_"Well... mom didn't have enough money to buy it when she was young, so she bought this when it got a blue-ray re-release..." Sayaka starts to twitch her feet together as she holds the jewel case in front of her chest and looks at the floor._

_"Sayaka-Chan, just because you are brave doesn't mean you can't like cute things. It's okay to admit you also like Shojo manga as well as Shonen manga." Madoka steps in front of Sayaka to look at her best friend in the face as she closes her hands around the blue head's hands. "What do you say we watch some Princess Knight for today?"_

_"I... also want to watch this anime with you two." Homura closes her own hand around Madoka's hand with a light, but warm smile on her face._

_"Alright! Princess Knight it is! I'll have you two know this series is created by Osamu Tezuka the godfather of manga and anime. It's often credited as THE first Shojo manga and anime..."_

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

Unknown to Homura, a smile moves up her lip as she starts to think about the happier time of her past... or is it future consider she's stuck 18 years in the past. She didn't hear the sound of someone turning the door knob, or the footsteps of her 'brother' until it's too late.

"I see you are one for the old school." Nobita's voice makes Homura tosses the manga into air in surprised like a kid who gets caught stealing from a cookie jar. She awkwardly tries to catch the book as she waves her hand in front of her. She lets out a breath of relief when she manages to catch the manga between her fingers.

Then the raven haired girl hears a faint rip sound, as half of the pages of Astro boy tears apart and falls on her foot with a thud. Homura stares between the pages on the tatami floor and her fingers before moving her gaze on Nobita.

"It can't be helped... Astro Boy is fairly old so it's only a matter of time before the pages start to fall off." Nobita lets out a defeated sigh as he walks in front of Homura and pick up the fallen pages up. "Does you foot hurt?"

"No, it doesn't... I didn't realize you are one for the old school either... brother." The word brother goes through Homura's teeth like running a stone through the surface of glass panel as she tries to adjust to this new disposition. Still, the glasses wearing buffoon doesn't seem to mind. He is probably too thick headed to even notice.

"I feel nostalgic about old times when things are simpler. It's not like contemporary manga where most ideas are done to death. Most new manga artist goes for the extreme for the sake of being extreme to get popularity from viewers rather than make good stories." Nobita gives Homura a shrug as he takes out the other half of Astro Boy from her hand. He put both together before sliding it back into its proper place on the shelf.

Homura remains speechless for a brief moment. It seems her 'brother' possess some insight uncommon to a buffoon. While she stares at Nobita in confusion, the boy walks to his desk and turn on the lamp. "Do you mind flipping the switch at the door? I concentrate better when there's only my lamp."

So he is the kind of bookworm that buries his head at the middle of a dark quiet night with only the light of a lamp illuminating his study material... very typical old school Japanese nerd. Then again... Homura thinks over all the time she would leave her own apartment dark except one single lamp while mapping out her battle plan to prevent Madoka from contracting with Kyubey. She doesn't exactly has solid ground to criticize Nobita.

Homura silently oblige to Nobita's request. She watches her 'brother' working some math problem in silence. She quietly goes to the shelf and picks up Astro Boy again and sits beside Nobita's desk. She'd prefer to read something with a bit more class, such as the work of Alexander Dumas. But if she needs to walk down the path of manga like Sayaka wanted... Homura suppose she can't do better than the godfather of manga.

_I guess it's okay to fall into self-indulgence once in a while... _The raven haired girl thinks to herself as she remembers one timeline when she convinces Mami to become an idol, makes Kyoko into Mami's successor who patrols Mitakihara and helps Sayaka winning Kyousuke Kamijou's heart. It is... refreshing to be in a timeline where her former friends all live relatively happier life before she reset the timeline once again to try to save Madoka.

"It's bad for your eye sight if you read manga like this." She catches Nobita's voice over her head. The voice is filled with only concern for her well-being.

"No need to worry. Being a Magical Girl means I can easily fix any problem my body has."

"Must be handy..." Nobita lets out another undignified grumble as he goes back to his study material. The two of them sits within the dim light of the lamp in silence, each going on with their own business till midnight steadily approaches.

"That's all for tonight." Nobita stretches his arm skywards as he lets out a yawn. He moves to the closet and takes out his futon. "Now that I think about it... where will you be sleeping?"

"The roof is as good as any." Homura closes the manga and stands up as she looks out Nobita's window and sees the roof for the first floor. "Or I can take the hot table in the living room."

"That won't do. You take my futon, and I'll take the hot table." The raven haired girl turns to look at the glasses wearing buffoon with doubt in her eyes. "You may be a Magical Girl, but I'm more talented at fallen asleep. I lost count of times I fallen asleep when the teacher punishes me by making me stand in the hallway."

"That's... not something to be proud of." Homura feels the need to scowl but settles for a heavy sigh instead. She is slowly getting used to her idiot of a brother's quirky nature.

"When you have very little reason to be proud of yourself, you find every little thing to boast just so your ego doesn't shatter all over the floor." Nobita gives Homura a shrug and then a salute as he turns away and exit his room. "Sleep tight."

Homura remains silent and unmoving in place for a few more moments as she thinks over the bitter looking smile on the face of her 'brother'. The raven haired Magical Girl breaks her trance and stares at the futon Nobita leaves in his room. Sleeping in a boy's futon... that's a thought never run crosses Homura's head.

It's not like she's disgusted at this idea She's just unsure what she'll ends up finding in a boy's bed. Slowly, the stoic time traveller makes her way to the futon like a Witch hides in there. She turns the thick blanket over before lying on the sheet and then covers herself. It may be a bit anti-climactic, but all she feels is how much warmer the futon feels compare to her single bed in her old apartment.

It's probably just her imagination. With a final wish to have a tearful reunion with Madoka in her dream as well as the hope of not waking up on an operating table being probed by Incubators, Homura Akemi - or Homura Nobi as of tomorrow - the iron clad Magical Girl, the stoic time travelling solider, slowly lets sleep over take her.


	11. A family breakfast

_"Homura is right, this doll really does look just like you Madoka!" Sayaka Miki jumps up and down as she points at the grand prize of shooting gallery: A pink haired magical girl like doll._

_"The resemblance really is uncanny, isn't it?" Mami Tomoe, a girl with golden twin drill hair style like a rich girl straight out of anime and their senior student from Mitakihara Middle School gives a nod as she closely exam the doll in question. "If the twin tail is a bit shorter it would look just like you."_

_"Well... we shouldn't be surprised. Pink hair with double horse tail is like, Magical Girl design 101..." Sayaka suddenly realizes all three of her friends are looking at her with a funny look in their eyes. "...I mean, that's what Hitomi told me. Right! She's the one that's into Magical Girls."_

_"Sayaka-Chan, we are your friends... it's okay to admit you like cute things." Madoka holds Sayaka's arm, trying to give some comfort to her blue haired friend._

_"I have a reputation to keep Madoka. I would be the laughing stock of our class if they learns the friend of justice has such a soft spot!"_

_Homura keeps on staring at 'Madoka doll' while Sayaka busies herself trying to explain Madoka why she can't like magical girl anime. The idea of holding this doll in her bed at the dead of night will certainly bring some comfort to her lonely apartment..._

_"Do you need a drink Homura-Chan? Your face seem to be heating up." The concerned voice of Mami brings Homura back into reality. The raven haired nerdy girl quickly gives her senior student a bow and a stuttered thank you as she take the plastic bottle of iced red tea from Mami's hand and chuck half a bottle down to hide her embarrassment. She really shouldn't fantasize about having an imaginary sleepover with Madoka while in her friends' company._

_"You really want that doll don't you?" Mami looks at the doll and Homura back and forth before a light bulb seems to pop out of her head. "Why don't you give it a try? It's not that hard."_

_"I... I don't know. Guns are scary... even the BB guns they use here in Shooting Gallery can blind someone if I hit them in the eyes." Homura lets out a weak whimper as she shakes her head._

_"Guns are only scary when you don't use them properly. It becomes a part of you when you get use to them." Mami leans closer to Homura and whispers into her ears. "Trust me, I know it. I been fighting with musket for almost three years remember?"_

_"Ah... Mami-San... you are getting too close..." Homura feels her entire face instantly heat up to the boiling point as she feels the gentle breeze down her ear. She wobbles around on her feet and threatens to topple over if Mami didn't grab her by the arm._

_"What are you whispering to Homura, Mami-Senpai? Are you two becoming THAT close now?" Homura looks up from the floor as she sees Sayaka's sly look. The blue head throws her arms around Madoka's shoulder. "That's fine though, because I get to keep Madoka all to myself!"_

_The pink head's face heats up just like Homura at this statement._

_"I was giving Homura-Chan a secret encouragement to help her in the shooting gallery." Mami gives Sayaka a smile while shooting Homura a knowing wink acknowledging the common secret between Madoka, Homura and herself. "Go on Homura. Give the Shooting Gallery a try. Just remember to hold the BB gun firmly and you should be fine."_

_At this point Homura suddenly realizes Mami could have simply give her a telepathy message. The senior Magical Girl did the ear whisper in order to tease her. Even though Mami is mature for her age, she is still only a middle school student._

_The raven haired Magical Girl lets out a soft sigh as she pays the vendor and take a deep breath before taking aim._

_BB pellets proceed to fly toward every direction except for the targets._

_"AH-!" Sayaka lets out a shriek as a pellet hits her between the eyes. She immediately drops down to the floor like a stone._

_"Sayaka-Chan! No~!" Madoka is ready to grab Sayaka, but Mami tackles her right behind a trash can for cover._

_"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH ~!" Amidst all the chaos, Homura wildly flails her BB gun like a three years old trying to control a runaway fire hose._

_..._

_"That was terrible. Getting shot in the head and all." Homura can hear Sayaka's painful groan even without looking up from her own knees."You really suck with a gun Homuhomu." _

_"I know you are hurt Sayaka-Chan, but please don't make Homura-Chan feel even worse about it. I'm sure she's feeling terrible about injuring you with that BB gun right now." The raven haired Magical Girl can hear her best friend trying to comfort the blue haired girl and protect her other friend. It's just like Madoka, kind to a fault that she'll do anything to ensure nobody gets hurt even if she herself ends up hurting in the process._

_"Ah, are you abandoning me for someone new, someone more moe, my dearest waifu? I thought what we had were special..." Homura swears Sayaka is letting out sniffing sound in between sentences. She's not sure if Sayaka is teasing the kind hearted pink Magical Girl or if she is genuinely hurt. The blue haired girl is too cheerful to cry at such trivia matter most of the time. _

_"What? No, Sayaka-Chan! That's not it at all..."_

_Homura feels someone place her hand on her shoulder as Madoka trying to desperately explain to Sayaka she's not abandoning her for some one more moe. "Don't feel so down Homura. It's just an accident, and despite what Sayaka is saying she doesn't hold a grudge against you."_

_"Thank you, Mami Senpai..." Homura raises her head out of her knees and gives the veteran a grateful smile. She moves her sight on the doll and give it a forlorn look in her purple eyes. "But I'm not good enough to win that doll..."_

_"You must really want that doll huh..." Mami turns around and look at the Madoka lookalike doll before giving Homura a confident smile and turns toward the shooting gallery. "You just sit tight here."_

_The Musket user pays for the entry fee as she holds the BB gun tightly in her hand and takes aim. As the target starts moving again Mami starts firing pellet with deadly precision and speed. Unlike Homura, the veteran Magical Girl easily nails every single target. It is to be expected for a Magical Girl who has been single-handedly keeping Mitakihara safe from familiar and Witches for almost three years. The golden haired Magical Girl suddenly does a 180 degree spin on her feet and fires the BB gun over her shoulder, hitting the last target right in the center as she does a peace sign with her hand in front of her face like she's role playing Sailor Moon._

_"And the grand prize goes to the lady with golden hair, congratulations." The vendor takes 'Madoka Doll' off the shelf and hands it into Mami's hand with a professional smile on his face. Mami give a graceful bow to the vendor as she takes prize and offers it to Homura._

_"Here you go Homura, take good care of her alright?" Homura looks up at Mami's face once again as she takes the doll from Mami's hand. The face of her senior class man is practically glowing with a confident yet kind smile._

_"OHMYGODTHAT'STOTALLYAWESOMEMAMISENPAI~!" Sayaka's cheer is so loud and rapid it almost make Homura's ear hurt. She's not bothered by it, as the only thing she is thinking about is how dependent the veteran Magical Girl is. If Homura can become as good as Mami... no, maybe only half as good as the veteran in time for Walpurgisnacht she can surely save Madoka together with her Senpai..._

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

"Did I really suck that much with a gun back then?" Homura sits straight up from the futon. She thinks back on her dream/memory from her second timeline. The look of both nostalgia and total disgust fight over for control of territory that is Homura's face.

Homura has always acknowledged she was a nervous wreck back when she first started. That is the reason why she's so determined to keep her fearless soldier like persona she manages to build over the timelines. After all, what chance does she has in save Madoka if she herself constantly need other people's saving.

It doesn't mean she wants to be constantly reminded of how embarrassing she is when she first starts this task of course. That's why she sub-consciously (or perhaps consciously) omit certain detail when she needs to recall event from her past.

That being said... it almost feel endearing to remember the time when she is actually friend with Sayaka and Mami. Homura has to admit to herself, even if both of those girls have mental deficiency for being Magical Girls they are still fun to be around as...

_Friends._

Especially when Homura realize she probably won't see them again in a very long time.

_Stop yourself!_

Her brows twist together into a knot at this thought. Yes, there was the time when she has faith in the dependable and kind hearted Mami. Almost like the veteran Magical Girl is an elder sister she never had. Mami's kindness and ideal inspires both Madoka and Homura even if Madoka will always be the friend that the raven haired time traveller treasures the most. That was back when Homura Akemi was a naive and dumb girl with more hope than there are stars in the sky.

It all changed when she sees Mami's complete breakdown. How the Senpai she trusts so much kills Kyoko in cold blood after learning the truth of Magical Girl. How the veteran Magical Girl proceeds to point the barrel of the musket towards her. That's when Homura realizes Mami's actions are driving more by her need to escape her loneliness than an uncompromising kindness like Madoka. As Homura Akemi repeats more and more loop, where Mami's inner insecurity drives Madoka down the path of self-destruction every single timeline as much as Kyubey's malice, the time traveller starts to resent her Senpai more and more.

Thinking back now, even the simple thought of being friend with Mami gives her an urge to put her pistol into her mouth and blast those thoughts out of her brain...

"I strongly recommend against putting a lethal weapon in your mouth. You won't get any nourishment out of such action and it's highly probable you will ends up with a fatal injure. If you put the gun barrel side of the weapon into your mouth of course." Homura turns her head towards Nobita's book shelf and sees the white abomination sitting on top of it like some self-appointed king of jerk mountain looking down at his subject.

"Were you watching me sleep?" Homura doesn't bother to hide the pure malice emitting out of her voice. The Incubator is either too dense or uncaring to realize it.

"Not exactly. I was curious about you and dream can be an easy if somewhat unreliable way to learn about a contractee. I have to say the 'you' from your dream behave completely different than 'you' in the waking world. Very intriguing... BLU! " The Incubator lets out a wet grumble as Homura tightens her grip around his throat.

"Intrigue this." Homura stares Kyubey through his beady red eyes and down to his vile soul (assuming he has one) as she takes a 9 iron out of her shield.

After a few moment of grotesque violence against cute alien that would make all the animal right group shit their pants, Homura walks out of Nobita's room humming a happy tone to herself. Kyubey on the other hand has a golf club replaces his spine as he lies stretched pass what should be his physical limit on the tatami floor. _"Having a golf club reshape my corporeal form certainly is intriguing in its own way. I didn't know our body can bend this way before."_

_"Nobody cares!"_ Homura shots Kyubey a particularly annoyed telepathy rebuke as she goes toward bath room. Lacking a tooth brush means she can only have a quick wash but she's not too worried about the health of her mouth cavity. It doesn't take that much magic to replace a whole set of teeth.

As a result she's a little surprised when she finds mug with her name tag on and a brand new tooth brash inside. That, and a little note posted beside the washing cabinet.

[To Homura:

It's a good thing we always keep some spare tooth brush sealed around for replacement, so don't ever think about skipping brushing your teeth or neglect other part of your body just because you have healing magic. (╬⊙д⊙)

Have a proper wash and come to dining room for your breakfast, young lady!

From: Mom]

Homura stands in front of the mirror for a solid minute not doing anything. Not that she doesn't appreciate the gesture.

_Isn't Tamako a little too old to use emoticon like that?_

Homura supposes it does not matter in the end. She's not exactly confined to normal so much she can't accept another person for being quirky. She quickly brushes her teeth and have a wash before heading towards the dining room with her old cloth on the account Nobi family hasn't bought her new clothes yet. It's still a little damp from the wash but she doesn't mind.

The fragrance of freshly prepared food greets her as Tamako busies herself around the dining table while Nobisuke reads the early morning newspaper.

"Another actress attempted to commit suicide before her manager called for ambulance... I know the entertainment industry can be quite cut throat but what's the world coming to? She's the third one this week and it's only Thursday." Nobisuke says with an exasperated voice and a deep frown on his face.

Homura mentally cringes after hearing the word 'commit suicide'. It shames her greatly after all those pain and suffer a single word still affects her so much. To her defence, that's how her mother goes away and leaving herself alone in a cold uncaring world. Sometimes when she needs to take a short break from planning strategy, she would sit on the edge of her apartment rooftop looking at the moon and wonder if her life would turn out the same with her mother Kaori still alive.

"Don't talk such thing in front of the kid." Tamako shots her husband a threatening glare as she sees Homura in the doorway.

"Ah, Homura! You have to excuse me, I didn't see you coming in." Nobisuke puts down his newspaper as he gives his own head a slap. "Did you sleep well?"

"It was well." Homura quickly re-adjust her mind and sits down around the table and looks down. Rice, n**attō** and miso soup, very old school Japanese breakfast. This brings back a lots of memories. Those are exactly what Kaori uses to serve in Akemi household. Hard bread or vitamin pill becomes Homura's new order of the day after she's gone.

"Do you prefer western? Like toast, fried egg and bacon? I can do that for tomorrow if you want." Tamako's voice brings Homura out of her memory. The middle aged house wife has a face of pure concern the time traveller isn't too familiar with unless such look comes from Madoka. The housewife must mistaken the reason Homura stares down her breakfast.

Homura is more used to suspicion and accusation from Sayaka or uncaring gaze from Kyoko. Mami does act friendly towards her and even show a sense of concern from time to time - before Homura loses her cool and starts to show open hostility against goldilocks of course. It used to be another source of solace Homura takes besides Madoka's uncompromising kindness in the early timelines.

After her third loop Homura realizes Mami's concern for the others originates more out of her need to establish her supremacy for being the veteran or her need to escape her loneliness rather than a genuine concern for the other like Madoka. Afterwards, it's hard for Homura to see Mami's action as anything other than patronization.

Homura wonders what other skeleton does the middle aged house wife has hidden in her closet besides being a veteran Magical Girl.

Still, the time travelling Magical Girl won't throw Tamako's apparent kindness back to her . Not unless she shows actual malice, or she's plotting something together with the Incubators anyways.

While Homura has made the decision to save Madoka by herself, she isn't above exploiting others in order to achieve her goal. Right now Nobi family offers her a place to stay until she either find a way to get back to the future, or meets Madoka once again in this timeline when the pink haired nurse aid is finally born into the world. It's more than Homura has any right to ask for. Unless they strap her onto an operating table for the Incubators to probe of course.

"It's fine." Homura shakes her head as she prepare to reach for her pair of chopsticks. She hears someone stomping in the door with a loud echo on the wooden floor panel.

"My good for nothing son must have returned from walking his dogs." Both Peko and Ichi runs into the dining room as Tamako gives this remark. The brown Shiba Inu lets out a growl as he slowly inches his way around Homura towards cupboard. The white Beagle eagerly walks up to Homura and licks her left hand. Even the iron clad time traveller has to secretly admit Peko is cute. Nobita's voice echoes down the corridor as he runs for the bathroom while she pets the friendly little doggie.

"I'll take a quick shower mama, can you feed Peko and Ichi for me?" Nobita's voice is quickly covered by the sound of running water.

"Just be quick about it and get down to the dining room. You don't want to start arriving school late again." Tamako lets out a huff as she opens up canned dog food for the pets. Ichi quickly dives his face into his feed. Peko gives Homura a muffled whimper before leaving her gentle touch and moves toward his breakfast.

For a second, Homura almost feel a sense of pity the friendly dog decide to leave her side.

"Don't let Ichi's attitude get you down. He has always been cautious against people he's unfamiliar with." Nobisuke gives Homura a smile as he pushes a plate towards her. "Do you want some dried fish?"

"...Thank you." Homura gives the middle aged salary man a quick look before bowing her head to show her appreciation. She takes a piece of fish into her mouth and slowly chews the food.

It's only pre-packaged food bought from supermarket, but it still taste better than what she's used to have. Not to mention she's not in any hurry to finish her food fast so she can squeeze every bit of time she has to calculate all her moves as well as strategize how to fight Walpurgisnacht.

Her brows tie into a knot together once she remembers the name of the super Witch she can never defeat without Madoka turning into a Witch herself. It's likely that thing will show its ugly face again at the end of the year and destroy Saigaku just like it destroys Mitakihara. If Homura can stop it in the past, maybe that means Madoka from this timeline can live happily without dying or turning into a witch. The problem: While Homura has almost a year to make preparation compares to one measly month, her time stop ability is acting weird and she can't replenish her supply of military weapon. Not to mention she doesn't know anything about this past timeline so she's bumbling in the dark.

Homura supposes she'll cross that bridge once she gets there. At the worst, she can try to meet other Magical Girls in this timeline and groom them into fighting Walpurgisnacht for her. Unlike Madoka, the raven haired time traveller doesn't need to worry about their survival as long as they are stable enough to take out Walpurgisnacht.

She can hear the sound of Nobita as he once again stomps into his way into the dining room. "What's for breakfast mama?"

"The usual, steamed rice, nattō and miso soup." Nobita plops himself down the seat and picks up his chopstick. He pours some nattō onto the top of his rice as he begins to wolf the content down. "Nobody is going to fight you over your food."

"Can't help it, morning exercise always make me hungry. Plus mama's home cooking is just that good." Homura notices a faint yet goofy smile on the face of her idiotic 'brother'. Once again she resist the urge to say something impolite like Kyoko. Homura scoops up a small bundle of rice into her mouth in silence.

The distant yet familiar taste of rice feels her mouth. It reminds Homura of the time when she used to have a family of her own where she sits around the table with Taiyo and Kaori in the morning waiting for her mother's breakfast while having some idol chat with her father. Granted there's not much difference you can do when it comes down to making plain steamed rice, but the time traveler swears it taste just like her mother's home cooking.

Adding to the fact she's once again sitting around the table of a loud, yet caring family. This feeling of normality is something that's so unfamiliar to the iron clad Magical Girl she can't help but blurt out the first thing on her mind.

"...Delicious..."

Suddenly Homura realizes what she's doing as she looks up. All three members of Nobi household is looking at her in a funny way.

"I know I just said my mama's cooking is good... but are you alright? You sounds like you haven't had rice for breakfast in a very, very long time. What do you eat for breakfast, millet porridge?" Nobita tilts his head sideways as he scratches his head like a monkey.

An understatement. After the death of her parents Homura was quickly hospitalized due to the deteriorate of her heart condition. The food they serve in hospital isn't what one can describe as homely. After she condition stabilizes enough that she's released out of hospital she mostly settle herself with microwave food she buys from supermarket and rarely cooks anything herself.

After she becomes a Magical Girl and dedicates her life at saving Madoka the times she would cook anything herself becomes even more sparse. She needs every second of her waking time to strategize, and look for solution on how to spare Madoka the fate of becoming a Magical Girl. Any moment spend processing food is a moment wasted consider she can just have microwave lunch. In fact, a lots of times she simply pop vitamin pills rather than eat any normal food - a Magical Girl's healing ability is as useful for curing malnutrition as well as battle wound.

"Vitamin pills." Homura says in a nonchalant manner as she takes a sip of the miso soup. It's every bit as tasty as her nattō covered steam rice.

"What kind of shitty parents let their daughter pop vitamin pills for breakfast!" Homura can hear the barely contained anger in Nobita's voice. She may be a bit angry at Nobita too for talking about her parents in such condescending tone when he never even meet them - if this takes place during her earlier loops when she still cares. They are trivia matter now.

"Dead." Homura peeks up from the soup bowl and sees her idiotic 'brother' sits in his chair with his mouth open wide like he's frozen in time. Tamako gives Nobita a hard knock on the head which sends his face right into the table. Nobisuke simply look at her with sympathy filled eyes while in the process of open his mouth. "I don't want to talk about it, and I don't want pity."

"Hey, Peko. Comes here." Nobita slowly rises from the table as he gestures his dog to his side. Peko lets out a curious whimper as Nobita picks him up. The glasses wearing middle school boy plop Peko's butt right on top of his head like an over decorated hair ornament. "I am an Asshat."

Homura is once again speechless at what a colossus idiot her 'brother' is. Is this glasses wearing buffoon trying to deflate an awkward moment - an awkward moment brings out by his own stupidity mind you - by acting once again out of his own idiocy?

Good thing Nobita's mother once again manages to slap some senses back into her son. "Stop acting like a clown and finish your breakfast. You don't want to be late for school."

"Sorry mama..." Nobita quickly puts Peko down on the floor as he buries his face into his rice bowl once again. Perhaps he's trying to hide his face away from Homura for reminding her the painful past? It is a needless sentiment of course, since Homura has long made peace with the fact her parents aren't around anymore.

The warm family atmosphere has certainly give way to a gloomy and heavy one. Homura doesn't mind it. In fact, she welcome this awkward distance she shares with the Nobi family. Such feeling makes it easier to ignore their friendly attempt to absorbs her into their happy little family.

To have any chance of saving Madoka, Homura needs to be a disciplined soldier with no fear. It she allows herself to get too comfortable with how the Nobi household treats her, her resolve to save Madoka will fade away. Some people may see this as a cruel self-punishment. Homura has long give up the idea of her own happiness if it means keeping the promise with Madoka.

Homura and Nobi household eats the rest of their breakfast in a rather oppressing silence afterwards. Both Nobita and his father look like they are going to start a conversation time and time again. Under the stern gaze of Tamako they both keep quiet. It suits Homura just fine, for the first time in a long time she manages to chew her food and enjoy the taste rather than force whatever stuff that'll keep her body going down her throat. Homura eventually finishes her meal even with her comparatively slow speed of eating.

"Thank you." Homura gives Tamako a bow to show her appreciation as she leaves her seat and puts it back into the table. She's ready to turn around and leave for school but Tamako's voice stops her.

"Where do you think you are going young lady?"

Homura turns around with a puzzled look on her face. To tell the truth she would rather spend her days in a library or old book store and read some literature than go to second year middle school again. She has been repeating the same grade for more than a hundred time after all. It is Tamako's idea to instate her into Nobita's school. "To school, like you wanted."

"Not without your lunch." Tamako also leaves her seat and hands a wrapped lunchbox towards Homura. "I won't have you pop Vitamin pills for lunch."

"You also need a bag. It's a little old since it's Nobita's old book bag when he was going to elementary school. And it's a little beaten up... because our son used to get into a lots of trouble back then. It's the best we can manage under such short notice. We'll get you some new clothes, and a new bag this weekend when we have time for a family shopping trip." Like his wife, Nobisuke also stands up from his seat and hands Homura a book bag.

It is one of those plain looking old school black bag like something out of a 70s photo. Homura notices the bag appears to have been sew back together many times if the many seams is a good indication.

Homura can't help but be reminded of the few memories she has for Kaori: When the timid housewife busies herself preparing a lunchbox for Homura.

Knitting her daughter a sweater, a scarf and a pair of mittens under the faint light of a lamp in the dead of the night when her daughter is in bed.

Why didn't Homura think about bringing any of those things with her through all the loops?

_Because they are unnecessary in saving Madoka of course. You spend all those loops in the summer, and you can easily get some sweater and scarf with the bank account they both left you._

_Surly those things would only serve to weaken my resolve. I need to purge all my weakness and fear from myself. I need to focus on my mission and be a brave in order to save Madoka._

_Then why do I suddenly feel guilty? Aren't I already made peace with my mother's suicide all those years ago? _

"Why...?" Homura stares at her own feet. She can hear her own voice trembling. She doesn't know how does Nobi family brings out her weakness so easily, didn't she already beaten the last straw of her old self out all those loops long ago?

"Why do all of you try so hard to treat me like a family? We just met yesterday. For all of you know I can be a Magical Girl who feed people to familiars so I can harvest Grief Seed from them."

She can hear a soft sigh from Nobisuke as the middle age salary man tries to say something to comfort her. "I'm sorry if we reminded you of your painful memories Homura. We... aren't trying to replace your family..."

The salary man's wife takes over from here. "...but it doesn't matter what you did in your own timeline. You are in the present, or the past for yourself. You have a new life awaiting you. As long as you don't try to harm other innocent people under our care we won't pry about your past. As for why we treat you like a family... it is because of an ideal."

Homura raises her eyes and give the house wife a puzzled look. She realize Tamako and Nobisuke are looking at each other with a knowing smile on their face.

"It's an ideal, and a vision. Magical Girls and Magical Boys contracted by the Incubators are a family. Not through blood but through their soul that's forever linked together even in the face of despair. As a family, we will carve out our own hope and happiness in our short lives together even when there is none."

"Corny... and unrealistic." Homura can't help but almost feel the need to laugh at those two middle aged Magi as she takes the lunchbox and book bag from them. They claim to have seen a lot in their lives as Magi, yet they act in such a callous manner unbefitting of their ranks. She can certainly see how Nobita turns into the boy he is now with parents like this.

She has to wonder how does Magi with such naive view even manage to stay alive till now. Although she supposes it is worth investigating. If she wants to live long enough to see Madoka in this timeline.

"Maybe, but it's better than simply accept the inevitable death and despair without doing anything isn't it? We can't change the outcome, but we can change how we live our lives. If it is our destiny to die, or fallen into despair then we'll give out kindness to our brothers and sisters till that day comes."

Homura can't help but feel pity toward those two adult Magi. Perhaps they are simply lucky in the regard they didn't see too much atrocities during their lives. Homura has no doubt the Kyoko will berate those two for being naive if foul mouthed drifter is present.

Homura isn't Kyoko, so she does not feel the urge to make both Tamako and Nobisuke realize how stupid their view points are. After all, isn't Madoka just like them in her own way?

"I will take it into consideration." Homura gives them both an ambiguous nod as she takes both the lunchbox and book bag from Nobita's parents. She gives Nobita a quick glance and realize the glasses wearing boy has a distant look in his eyes. It's almost like he is thinking very hard about something but Homura quickly dismiss that thought. He is probably just surprised about all the new information regard Magical Girls and Incubator gets into his life in such a short notice.

Homura honestly doubt he would understand anything they are even talking about. He is the same age as herself after all. A thirteen years old would barely understand the cruel nature of the normal world, let alone the world of Magical Girls.

"Stop staring into the void young man! If you don't hurry up you will really be late!" Tamako's angry voice seem to finally bring Nobita out of his trance. The fool quickly gives his mother an apology as he grabs his bag and runs out of the dining room ahead of Homura. They walks to the front door and puts their shoes on in silent.

"Listen Homura... I'm sorry about what I said back there. I been an ass, jumping into conclusion like that." Walking in the front, Homura can hear her 'brother' trying to apologize for his action. She really isn't too upset about it, consider how utterly over the fact her mother throw herself over a rooftop leaving her all alone...

Okay, maybe she wasn't as over the fact her mother committed suicide as she convinced herself. And he is right about himself being an ass.

"Yes you were, but I don't want to talk about it. I made peace with it a long time ago, and you have no right to pry about my past." Homura gives Nobita a cold reply as she continues her walk toward Saigaku Middle School. She can hear her idiot of a brother let out a deep breath.

"Long time ago..." Nobita's voice seem to tremble when he repeats after Homura. As if the buffoon is puzzled at Homura's age when she was orphaned but too afraid to press the matter any further. It suits Homura just fine. She really doesn't want to talk about things she left behind. The pair of siblings unrelated by blood continue their walk towards school in complete silent until they are interrupted by someone else.

"Yo, Nobita, you dog! Where did you got the cute baby that's walking beside you?" A familiar cheeky voice makes Homura turns her head and spots the somewhat familiar messy brown hair. She doesn't know the boy personally, but being the long time subject of her teacher's torment certainly leaves a faint yet distinguished mark in her memory.

_Hideki Nakazawa?_


	12. A schoolday without Madoka

"Yo, Nobita, you dog! Who did you have to NTR to got that cute babe walking beside you, because she's way above your level!" The boy with light colored short hair spastically waves his hand at Nobita as he runs up to Homura's 'brother'. Judging from this kind of action this boy is a bigger idiot than her 'brother'.

Nobita ties his brows into a knot as the overly enthusiastic Nakazawa look alike throws one arm around his neck. "'Aren't we still in the age group that hate all girls because of cooties' you said... yet, you of all people ends up with a girl way before me or Hide-Hime. Aren't you going to introduce her to me?"

Hideki Nakazawa is one of the two male students whose name is known by Homura. That's mainly thank to her home room teacher Satome's tendency of bullying the clown after love life failures. What Homura remembers about the boy is he has a fondness of literature of all things if you can believe it. Despite this common interest Homura certainly doesn't consider Nakazawa one of her friend. That clown is simply too obnoxious for any possible friendship with Homura. Judging by the striking resemblance this boy is a close relative. Either Hideki's father, or an uncle considering the timeframe.

"I'm not in a relationship with my own sister." Nobita rolls his eyes at Nakazawa. Homura fights the urge to rises an eyebrow when she notices Nakazawa's face seem to light up after hearing the word 'sister'. This older Nakazawa will do something stupid or annoy if he is anything like the Nakazawa Homura knows.

"I didn't even know you had a sister before. Is she a lost twin at birth because of a hospital fire, or a Kaiju attack, or an alien invasion..."

"You do now real life is nothing like manga right?" As much as Homura wants to agree with her 'brother' she is reminded of her current state as a Magical Girl. Of course, real life Magical Girl is not as magical as made up ones from manga.

"Alien invasion... maybe." Homura mutters quietly with a smirk on her face.

"...That's beside the point. Nobita, old buddy, old pal. You are going to introduce your best-est friend Hideo Nakazawa to your own sister, aren't you?"

_So his name is Hideo instead of Hideki... I shouldn't be surprised consider how young Satome and Madoka's mom are. This boy can't be Hideki Nakazawa of course. It doesn't matter. Unless he is secretly a Magical Boy he won't factor into any of my plan..._

Homura's mind skips a pulse as the term 'Magical Boy' comes up again in her head. Why did this thing suddenly enters her mind? Surely of hundred of cycle she went through the iron clad time traveller only meet Magical Girls. That may not be strictly true, consider she can't recall her last few timelines other than some fragment of image about Magical Boy. This either means her soul is finally starting to corrupt like all Magical Girls eventually will, or someone decide to wipe her memory of Magical Boy. Both possibilities are equally terrifying to her.

Although the raven haired Magical Girl seems to have a million things running over her head, it only takes a moment in real time.

"Fine..." Nobita rolls his eyes again as he points his finger at Nakazawa while facing Homura. "Homura, Hideo Nakazawa, our class idiot. Nakazawa, Homura Nobi, my sister."

"You aren't the class idiot?" Homura's remark makes Nakazawa burst out laughter. This one is certainly even more loud and obnoxious than his possible son/nephew.

"Touché..." Nobita gives his sister a shrug as the three of them walks together. The Nobi siblings walk in silence as before while Nakazawa provide the background sound effect.

_I should be calm enough by this point now that I can start formulate some kind of plan... long term plan preferably as I'm stuck in the past. Yes, some goals to anchor myself into reality is always good, just like how I repeated my cycles past hundred times or so._

_How about some priority list? That's always a good thing. What should I put on the top of that list?_

_I want to see Madoka..._

_I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see..._

"Nobita old pal. You still haven't answered my question yet. Last time I checked you are the only child in your family for 13 years. How did you suddenly get a sister old as yourself?" The chirpy voice of Hideo slowly starts to grad on Homura's nerve as she tries to think some more about her situation. While it's highly distracting, Homura does realize how Hideo acts is much more normal then her 'brother' or herself for a middle school student. After all, they should be young enough to not have a single care in the world.

"Ok... two things: Number one, you aren't my sassy best friend. Number two, Homura and I aren't really siblings. Homura is more like my distant cousin who just lost her folks so she's living with us now..." The time traveller swears Hideo's face suddenly turns from cheerful and happy to 'I'm going to murder you' within a split second as Nobita mentions the word 'distant cousin'. As much as she hates sounding like Kyubey of all creatures, this display of face changing is actually quite intriguing.

"WHAT! You means you get to do all those enviable things living together under one roof thingy with a sister like figure who aren't related to you by blood! Like sleeping together, eating together, bumping into her when trying to take a bath so you get to see her half naked..." Hot steam starts to escape the ear and nose of the older generation Nakazawa as he stares down at Nobita like a raging bull while shaking Nobita furiously by his collar.

"You do realize we aren't living in an harem comedy manga, and I'm not its typical useless bumblefuck protagonist." Nobita rebukes Hideo's outburst with a sigh of self-defeat. A pair of hand suddenly breaks those two boys apart while Homura still tries to decide if she should continue towards the school by herself or separate the idiot brigade. Out of the corner of her eyes Homura realizes Nobita steals a quick glance at her. Her glasses wearing 'brother' grumbles in a quiet but still audible voice due to her Magical Girl enhanced hearing. "Besides, I don't want to get a bullet to the head..."

She should have know giving those two damned Incubator a headshot each would cause some kind of repercussion. Oh well, at least it goes better than all the timelines with Madoka or Sayaka.

"I know you aren't shy at showing your affection to your friend Hideo, but don't you think that's a bit too much?" The pair of slim, yet surprisingly strong hand belong to a boy with well groomed long hair who separates the boys out of their scuffle. Even at first glance Homura realize this is one of the good boys in school. His well ironed and neatly dressed uniform is a very good indication. His soft almost effeminate feature (not helped by his hair style) reminds Homura of a certain boy from her own class if a bit less towards artistic and more towards academic spectrum.

It's at this point Homura suddenly realize she has no idea who this boy reminds herself of. The only other boy she knows fairly well from her timeline is Kyousuke Kamijo: The musical prodigy who Sayaka Miki hopelessly fall in love with. At the surface Kyousuke Kamijo appears to be the one she's thinking of but a small back portion of her brain keeps on whispering to her. As she tries to concentrate on this line of thought further, she seems to glimpse a lock of purple hair as well as a sharp pain in her head that staggers her sideways into a wall. As she tries to regain her composure a bombardment of different voices start to assault her still echoing ears.

"Why are you holding me back Nobita? Can't you see I'm trying to help your sister?"

"You are either insane or stupid if you think I'll let you take advantage of Homura while she's dazed."

"YOU TWO ARE ALREADY ON A FIRST NAME BASIS!?"

"Are you okay, Miss? Do you need a hand?"

Homura turns around to see the effeminate boy offering his hand towards her for support while her 'brother' has Nakazawa in a sleeper hold. The raven haired Magical Girl softly shakes her head as she stands on her feet again.

She has to do something about this lost memory of her. Although in hindsight she should only do it when she's at home or alone. It draws too much attention if she keeps on losing conscious. The hospital driven Homura Akemi may secretly desires some attention to herself but that craving has fled to kingdom come as soon as she enters Mitakihara Middle School and she's bombarded by questions from other students.

"Alright, but if you really don't feel well please don't hesitate to ask for help." The effeminate boy gives an understanding nod as he turns towards Nobita. "Nobita-Kun, does your friend always have this problem where she spontaneously loses her conscious."

"No, it's first time she's out like a light." Nobita releases Hideo as he looks at the third boy while scratches his head. "I only met her last afternoon though."

"YOU TWO ONLY KNOW EACH OTHER FOR LESS THAN A DAY AND YOU TWO ARE ALREADY..."

"Shut up, Hideo." Nobita shoves his hand right up Hideo's mouth, turning his angry shout into a muffled grunting noise. "I should introduce her to you Dekisugi. Homura, Hidetoshi Dekisugi, our class prodigy. Dekisugi, Homura Nobi, my adopted sister."

"Nobita gives me too much credit... I'm the same as everyone else if slightly more persistent. Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet you Nobi-San." Dekisugi gives Homura a formal bow which confirms Homura's suspicion he is one of the good boys of the class. "I hope you'll enjoy attending our school."

"Same." Homura gives Dekisugi a solid look for a second before she returns his friendly gesture and reluctantly squeezes out a response. For some reason she feels wary of Dekisugi's image of a perfect gentleman. Maybe it is caused Mami's complete breakdown. That little event makes her weary of all the 'perfect at first glance' type. Surely they all hide some skeleton in their closet. Homura wonders what is Dekisugi's skeleton.

"How is your study coming alone Nobita? Our math contest is next week." Dekisugi either doesn't catch the badly hidden distain in Homura's voice or choose to not mind it. The effeminate boy turns to Nobita as he walks in between Nobita and Hideo to block out their leering contest.

"Not as good as I'd like, our family adopting Homura and all... real storm of shenanigans, but I can't complain. And hey, Saigaku still has you if I drop the ball." Nobita gives Homura a quick look before he lets out a shrug. Dekisugi doesn't say anything other than giving Nobita a pat on the shoulder and squeezes hard on Nobita's shoulder.

"Damn you Nobita, why does all the good things happen to you? Why can't I get a beautiful step-sister living under one roof with me. And to top it off... you rub it in my face by complain about it!" Hideo gets down on his knees while throws his arms skyward in an overly exaggerated posture.

"Maybe the reason you are unlucky with the girls is because you act like a creep all the time." Nobita stares at Hideo with an utter contempt in his brown eyes as he lets out an exasperate sigh.

While her 'brother' is busy being stupid with his friend Homura decide to go back to her thoughts. She takes a deep breath and starts to think over her situation once again. Aside from the assumption she can't regain the control of her power due to her soul gem's unique status... there's also some good thing about stuck in the past. For one she's no longer working around the rather limited one month schedule for preparation. She will have a lots of chances to challenge Walpurgisnacht as long as she keeps herself and Madoka's parents safe.

It will be a much easier task than keeping Madoka safe consider her parents won't be tempted by Kyubey at making a contract. This means she should start looking out for Magical Girls around Mitakihara/Saigaku and groom them into fighting the mega Witch if the damn thing shows up in the intervening years.

That's a good priority: keep her soul gem relatively clean and start recruiting other Magical Girls as the muscle if Walpurgisnacht show up.

Although that line of thinking brings her back to the particular newspaper article she read back about a hundred loops ago: The devastation of Saigaku, which lead to the city being rebuild into modern Mitakihara. While the devastation is Walpurgisnacht level the time of the disaster doesn't match. It takes place around the end of the year, Christmas time rather than may 1st which is the only day Walpurgisnacht show up.

Could it be there's another mega Witch she never learns about? And what would be that particular Witch that can very well rival Walpurgisnacht's destructive power? The Krampus?

Wouldn't that be a remarkable sight... a giant horned goat man destroying a city while a collection of Magical Girls try to halt its progress...

"Hello... Earth to Homura, we are at school now." A distant voice as well as a waving hand snaps Homura back to reality. The time traveller looks up and realize she almost walk right pass the gate of the school as her 'brother' trying to get her attention.

"I was distracted..." Homura turns to look at the gate and realizes a girl with blue hair standing behind the gate. The girl has a very serious face, and inspect every single student walking through with a stern look. The armband on one of her arm read the word 'discipline committee' which explains why. As if that's not enough... this girl is wearing one of those old style spirit head band.

If this girl is who Homura think she is... then Homura just learned how Sayaka Miki turns out the way she is.

"That's Ichijou Hibari, one of the member on our school's discipline committee. She takes her job VERY seriously." Nobita leans against Homura and quietly whispers into her ear before walking towards Hibari. The last name doesn't match but consider it's her maiden name there's still a very good chance this girl is Sayaka's mother. Homura won't know for sure since she's never been close enough to Sayaka to know her mother other than Mrs. Miki.

"Good morning Hibari. I see you are still hard at work." Nobita puts on an obvious fake smile as he waves at Hibari. "So... my step sister's transfer paper got a little mixed, that's why she's here on such short notice and without her uniform or books. Can we go through to see the teachers and get it sorted out?"

Hibari raises one of her eyebrow as if accessing Nobita's story before casting her sight on Homura before looking back at Nobita while waving her fist. "I don't like waving the rules. Go and get your sister registered with school board and get a uniform for her. You better not be lying to me or else it's two weeks of clean up duty after school."

"Ok, we'll be gone now." Nobita gives the discipline committee member a quick nod before quickly giving Homura the gesture to move through the gate.

The boys shares some small talk about school and the current popular anime before they reach the stairs. "I'll take Homura to third floor, gets her registered with the teacher and all. You two go on without me."

"Oh yeah! Totally looking forward to rub it in Kakashi Sensei's face. I'm on time once in a while... unlike him!" Hideo lets out a snicker as he puts his arms behind his head and walk along the second floor hallway. Dekisugi on the other hand gives a short 'don't tally' before joining Hideo towards their classroom.

"Think your mother's pet Incubator did his job?" Homura turns towards Nobita and realize he's picking his nose with his left little finger. She frowns at such behaviour.

"Wouldn't know. Never met Blue Deadpan McGee in my life. You coming or what?" Nobita doesn't seem to notice her distain just like his friend Dekisugi as he dismissively shakes the snot off his hand.

"Let's get it over with." Homura lets out a soft huff as she follows her 'brother' to the third floor. She still doesn't trust this new Incubator but it's apparent she won't learn more about the blue abomination from Nobita.

Contrary to what Homura thinks the registration goes very smoothly. Not as smoothly as all the times she's been admitted to Mitakihara Middle School consider her cover story involve lost transmission paper of course. After a short time of paper work and some scraping the drawers for one of those older style sailor uniform that'll fit her, the time traveller is officially send to Nobita's class.

It's hard to say what Homura is expecting for this brand new class she knows nothing about. Maybe a different yet familiar feeling to her usual Mitakihara class, or a complete alien feeling considering all the new faces she never see all staring at her and brings out her social anxiety like her original timeline.

The ravine haired Magical Girl wasn't expecting a classroom full of students chatting with one another like a farmer's market. Almost nobody paying attention to her which is good. She looks up at the wall mounting clock to make sure she somehow didn't step into an alternate dimension. It's a quarter past class start. Shouldn't the teacher be in the classroom by now?

"Right... I know what you are thinking. Shouldn't the teacher be here by now? Well, let's just say our Kakashi Sensei is a bit quirky." Nobita gives Homura a shrug as he picks up a chalk and starts to write Homura's name on the blackboard. Hideo is the first to notice Homura as he furiously waves his hand towards her and pointing towards an empty desk besides him. To Homura's dismay, the clown manages to draw most people's attention towards her.

Homura Akemi shouldn't have any nervous feeling about introducing herself to a class consider she's done it hundred times already. Not to mention all the fighting with Witches and their Familiars should make her fearless by now. But when she's facing a complete different set of faces she suddenly feel herself as nervous as the first loop where she's not a time traveller or a Magical Girl. She feel like her steadfast solider like mask begins to crumble, and that helpless and socially awkward nerdy girl with twin braids and glasses starts to come out again.

_Hold yourself together damn it! It's not like you are facing Walpurgisnacht. You are just doing a mundane task you completed hundreds of times._

"I am Homura Ak..." She almost bites her own tongue and trip over herself despite standing perfectly still. Isn't it such a great feeling when you screw up the first step of an extremely simple task?

"I mean... I am Homura Nobi, the transfer student here at Saigaku Middle School. I hope to get along with everyone."

The ravine haired Magical Girl can feel her face burning up a little. She quickly steps towards the back of the class towards an empty seat way back. Homura has about one second of catching up her breath before the student in front of her turned back to face her with a challenging stare.

"So you are close with four eye frogger huh? Maybe you can teach him how to stand up for himself. You pretty strong, pushing me off my feet like that. Up for a little arm wrestle before class?" The girl with short purple hair slams her elbow on Homura's desk.

It takes Homura's somewhat addled mind a few moments to register the person who is talking to her: Junko Kaname, Madoka's mother in her early teens. Well... her last name is not Kaname consider she hasn't married yet.

It surprises Homura that the mother of Madoka Kaname - a usually timid girl unless she's facing against Witches or their familiars in her Magical Girl form - can be this forceful in youth. If Homura didn't know any better, she would almost assume Junko will raise Kyoko rather than someone remotely similar to Madoka.

The time traveller wonders if Madoka's personality is affected more by her father rather than her mother. After all Madoka's father does have that gentle and kind feeling Madoka radiant for the few times Homura visits Kaname resident. If only the time traveler can remember the name of Madoka's father to make sure he doesn't get entangled into any Magical Girl business and dies before Madoka can be born. Oh well, at least she got the last name to go on. And if all things go the way it suppose to (which Homura highly doubt due to her cynicism) Junko will ends up meeting Madoka's father sometime down the line.

"Hey! I'm talking with you! Don't get cocky just because you pushed me on my bum two days ago! I bet I can beat you in an arm wrestle right now I'm serious!" Junko's angry shout snaps Homura right back into reality once again. Yes... Junko is starting to look more and more like Kyoko the homeless Magical Girl if a tad bit more aggressive rather than cheeky.

"Ah~, don't be so hard on our new friend. She's obviously still nervous to be in a new class." Another girl with purple hair turns around to gently pat Junko on her shoulder. The competitive pre-teen mother of Madoka seems to relax at this gesture as her shoulder becomes less tense.

"Alright. I still don't like how cocky she acts though. Does she think she's too good for us or something..." Junko pout out her cheeks as she grumbles some complain under her breath.

"I'm Yukiko Keishoutto by the way, and Miss 'I will eat your face' is Junko Ryugu. Nice to meet you." Yukiko, the other purple haired girl gives Junko a nudge as she extend her hands towards Homura.

Homura looks at Yukiko's hand in confusion. On the one hand she has no need to take it. This girl is not related to Madoka in anyway therefore her well being is completely superfluous to Homura's mission. On the other hand... isn't it nice to have a bit of a break once in a timeline? That was Homura's attitude dyrubg one of the timeline she tries to give each Magical Girl she knows a happy life. She convinced Mami Tomoe to semi-retire as a Magical Girl and become an idol to cure the veteran's loneliness. She helps Sayaka Miki gets together with the boy that mermaid princess had a crash since childhood. She even give Kyoko Sakura the area of Mitakihara so the homeless Magical Girl can hoard all the Grief Seed to her heart's content.

As much as Homura doesn't want to admit any of her own weakness... that timeline always brings a warm feeling deep down. It is also the reason why she reset the time even before facing Walpurgisnacht. She can't bear to see the happy life of all the girls get ruined if any of them die.

"...Nice to meet you too." After a short pause, Homura finally takes Yukiko's hand. Her hand feels surprisingly warm, just like that cup of hot coco from last night.

"See this, Junko? Homuhomu-Chan isn't cocky, she's just a little slow. You need to give her more time to work things out at her own pace."

"Homu... Homu-Chan?" Homura fights the urge to raise her eyebrow and voice as she gives Yukiko a puzzling look. It's not the first time someone gives her a nickname (Once again Kyoko comes to mind), but a nickname that sounds this 'cute' doesn't fits her current appearance at all. Maybe it fits the old timid and nervous Homura.

"Yes, it's cute isn't it? You should smile more often. I bet you'll look real pretty if you smile... with a nice dress. Or if you like to remain all serious and ice queen... you should maybe wear some boy's cloth. A traditional butler's uniform is fine. Yes, indeed... I bet you'll be a smashing hit with all the ladies if you dress up as with a black tux with that cool and mysterious vibe you got here!" Homura can practically see enthusiastic lights sparkle in Yukiko's eyes. She has a distinct feeling this energetic and bubbly girl is seeing her as some kind of real life dress-up doll. It's borderline freakish in its own way.

It's a good thing Homura doesn't need to deal with this bubbly girl anymore as a teacher with shaggy white hair finally walks into the classroom. "Good morning class, I..."

"...Lost my way on the road of life this morning." Most students shouts out in unison before burst out laughing. It surprises Homura a bit that the teacher doesn't look too bothered for being made the butt of the joke. From her previous experience, if someone dare to make fun of Satome sensei for getting dumped by her boyfriend again there'll be hell to pay.

"Ah, everyone's informed. Good, we can jump straight into today's lesson then..." The teacher scratches his hair as he seem to notice the name on the blackboard. His eyes quickly surveys the classroom before settling on Homura. It can be her overactive instinct but Homura swears there's a stinging feeling in the teacher's laid back eyes. "Right... we have a new student here. Judging from the name... Miss Homura is related to Mr. Nobita then?"

"Yes Kakashi Sensei. She is my adopted sister who just arrived last night." Homura turns to look at her 'brother'. It's a good thing he takes over the introduction for her because Homura doesn't feel like repeat herself to the teacher and other students.

"I see. Well, I hope you'll have fun with my class. Learning things is important and all, but you are only 14 once so try to have some fun while you learn new things." Homura can't help but smirk in her own mind at being 14 for ten years or so. Although to be fair... she rarely have fun while repeating her cycles.

"Let's start with something simple to ease our new student into her groove shall we?" Kakashi Sensei doesn't seem to notice Homura's hidden contempt as he pulls out a hat from his suit. The hat is almost filled to the brim with folded paper bits. How he manages to keep this thing within his suit without spill it all over is beyond Homura. "Since we are having a language class let's start out with a fun activity. Everyone takes one paper and pass the hat back."

As the hat is being passed back, Kakashi Sensei continue his speech. "Now, it is important to learn proper spelling and grammar of any language. But what is the purpose of both written or oral language: communication with others. Therefore it's equally important to decipher the meaning behind other people's speech. In this exercise all of you will be arranged into a group of four and two of you engage in a conversation. The two students who listen to the conversation will try to decipher what the speaker is thinking about through their tone and body language..."

Homura doesn't know what to think about this activity. It feels like something one would make up in a moment of insanity during bath because the water is too hot. On one hand she doesn't like how she'll have to be forced to talk with other student. On the other hand... it probably will be more fun than repeating Satome's mundane class for another time. The hat lands on her hand so she picks up a paper before passing the hat alone. After the groups are sorted Homura realizes she's in a group with Hideo, Hidetoshi and Yukiko.

_This is going to end up well..._

Out of curiosity Homura looks toward the direction of her 'brother'. It seems like he's sitting together with a girl. Both of them looking at Junko and a girl with green hair and a very bald forehead engaging in staring contest.

"Yes...YES!" Homura's attention snaps back to her own group as Hideo lets out a muffled exclamation while pumping his fist. The possible father/uncle of Hideki Nakazawa is clenching his fist tightly with both of his eyes shut. Homura can read Hideo's barely contained excitement out of his twitching face despite not being able to see his eyes.

"Hideo is definitely thinking about how happy he is. He really wants to know Homuhomu-Chan better doesn't he?" Yukiko gives Homura a mischievous looking wink as she rest her chin on her own hand. The fact Homura agrees with Yukiko makes the time travelling Magical Girl even more uncomfortable.

"I'll start the exercise with Hideo, the two of you try to guess what we are thinking about." Homura looks toward the direction of Hidetoshi Dekisugi. The gentlemanly pretty boy gives Homura a knowing smile as he turns toward Hideo. "Shall we start, Hideo?"

"Geez... aren't you a good Samaritan." Hideo rolls his eyes backwards as he lets out a huff. "Let's get the show on the road then. You are also trying to get on Homura's good side aren't you?"

_Yes... this Hideo guy is definitely bitter how Hidetoshi stolen his chance to talk with me... Although there may be some truth behind his accusation. I'm never comfortable with the overly friendly type... not after Mami's complete break down anyways._

"Of course. We are going to be in the same class for some time. It's only natural to be friendly with one another." Dekisugi answers Hideo's malicious accusation with a smile and a nod. Homura can't help but feel more and more distain from this boy.

Deep down the iron clad time traveller realizes she's being unfair to Dekisugi because of her past experience with Mami. There is a chance Dekisugi simply does have the patience of a saint. Alas, in Homura's rather cynical mind the pretty boy is simply another wolf wearing the skin of a sheep.

"Pfft... I'm thinking you just don't want to talk with Yukiko here. Admit it, you are afraid she'll make you wear a dress again. You know Dekisugi, you look much better in a dress than a pair of pants anyways. Maybe you should just give up and let Yukiko pick your wardrobe." Homura raises one eyebrow at Yukiko. It seems like this bubbly purple head has set her eyes on more than one real life dress-up doll. Yukiko seems to notice Homura's gaze as she turns towards Homura and gives the time traveller a knowing wink.

"Well... I am still a boy, am I not? And I am very happy with the gender I am born with, despite what others like to gossip." Homura swears she sees a glimmer of fear in the effeminate pretty boy's eyes. Homura has to admit it comes off rather strange to her. From her memory, effeminate boy doesn't seem to have this much fear when it comes to cross dressing especially when they have a hair style that make them look even more girly...

Homura feel a sharp pain in her head as her head gets dizzy once again.

_Right... have to stop thinking about girly looking pretty boys. This memory block thing is really annoying. Not as annoying as my soul gem turns transparent, or losing control of my power..._

"Are you okay Nobi-San? You look like you are about to pass out again." When Homura regains her composure she realizes Dekisugi is looking at her with concern in his eyes.

"I'm fine. It's... sympathy pain. Last time one of my... 'friend'..." Homura has to wait a good whole second to swallow back the disgust in her voice. She pops her water bottle open and gets ready to have a drink. "...played dress up, a whole lot of shenanigans happened."

The time traveller can't help but think of that one timeline when Mami Tomoe goes completely loopy. The blond veteran Magical Girl proclaims herself the queen of Mitakihara. She makes everyone dress up like her down to that ridicules golden twin drill hair style. The self-proclaimed queen of Mitakihara even forces everyone to have ten tea parties every day. It's no wonder Mami Tomoe is the Dress Up Witch when she turns.

"Sounds like a handful... well, I hope you won't miss your old friend too much being in a new city and all..."

_You have no idea..._

"...but all of us here at Saigaku are friendly. Even the more competitive ones like Junko..." Dekisugi turns his head towards Junko who is currently having a sumo wrestling match with the green haired girl... with their forehead.

Homura almost barf out the mouthful of water she takes a moment ago.

"But anyways... what I'm saying is... it's never too late to make new friends right... ouch, ouch, ouch!" Dekisugi's friendly chat turns into painful yell as Hideo pulls his long hair.

"Hidetoshi Dekisugi you dog! Volunteer to do the exercise with me to raise your relationship point with Homura, and then proceed to chat with her! I aren't letting you finish 'Homura route' under my watch!" Hideo says with a cheeky smirk before Kakashi Sensei gives him a light tap on the head with a textbook.

"No physical violence Mr. Nakazawa."

Even with the wackiness Homura can't help but find there's some truth in Dekisugi's speech. She's not going to see any of her old 'friends' anytime soon consider she no longer has full control of her power. Right now she should focus on more productive things rather than slump in self pity. Walpurgisnacht remains the biggest threat in keeping Madoka safe once she's born. That means she should use all this extra time to formulate some kind of plan to take the mega Witch down. Preferably without herself dying in the process, or one of the Magical Girls in this timeline turn into an even more powerful Witch in the process.

She does remember during one of the timelines where Kyubey has a slip of tongue. He says something along the line of 'it's the destiny of the Magical Girl who defeats the strongest Witch to become a stronger Witch herself'. Of course, consider Madoka won't be in the current time period, she can simply perform a sympathy killing on the girl who defeat Walpurgisnacht before she fully turns.

Yes, no matter how the time traveller think about it, making connection with current time Magical Girl and rally them against Walpurgisnacht is the best approach. The question is how...

She can go on Witch hunt on her own, and likely bump into other Magical Girl of course. Although this will not be Homura's preferable method consider what Mami Tomoe says to her. Most Magical Girls tend to be fiercely territorial and tend to fight each other over good hunting ground. If she goes in guns blazing there's a good chance she'll end up confront whoever shows up rather than somehow co-operate with them.

Of course... consider the Magical Girls she meets aren't the way Mami describes... The time traveller wonders if that's also something Mami Tomoe makes up to make other girls cling onto her so she can feel good about herself.

The ravine haired Magical Girl remembers something from last night. When the mother of her 'brother' finds out about her identity the housewife asks if that's how Nobita knows about Homura and Magical Girl. He says something about meeting other Magical Girls before their encounter. This means Nobita knows the identity of some current active Magical Girl.

_"Can you hear me Nobita?"_

_"Yes, I can use Magical Girl channel even if I'm not a Magical Boy yet."_

_"Magical Girl channel... why aren't I surprised you'll give it a stupid name... That's not important. Do you know Magical Girls around here? Contact them for me, I need to discuss something with them."_

_"Is this some secret Magical Girl to Magical Girl talk? Oh, it's one of those time traveller thing where you need to discuss with them some future event to make a better future right? Like what Trunks did in Dragon Ball Z. Let me see if I can reach one of them... Hey, Miyoko. You there?"_

_"Yes Nobita. I trust this is an emergency when you have to contact me during class rather than waiting for break or lunch?"_

_"Not really... that's actually me being a thoughtless jackass. Anyways, my sister is a Magical Girl and she needs to talk with you about something. Do you have time today?"_

_"I'll wait for the two of you at school gate after class. I'm doing training with Jaiko and Iyo after school and we can meet up together at my house."_

_"That will be acceptable."_Homura comes out of her telepathic link and realize all three of her group members are staring at her with funny expression on their faces. "Is there something wrong?"

"Well, you were looking... thoughtful by yourself." Dekisugi runs his hand over his long hair as he looks out the window.

"Has anybody told you this? You look very cute when you blank out." Homura fights over the urge to either clubber Hideo on the head, or time stop and run out of the class room.

She wonders how long she'll stay sane in the school without Madoka.


	13. What's gotten into you?

The rest of the school day goes fairly fast for Nobita. It's just another day of middle school shenanigan for him. Although looking back he realizes the whole week is a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs.

Nobita has to admit his life isn't what one usually associate with a normal second year middle school student even before all the crazies starts. Sure, he sometimes hang out with Dekisugi or Hideo after school but the glasses wearing boy prefer to stay by himself. Compare to his usual weekly routine, what happened so far this week feels more like one of those wacky adventures he has in his own mind when he's hospitalized back in grade 4.

Meeting one of his older acquaintance when he's young and learning she's somehow turned into a Magical Girl. See two of his old 'friends' he hasn't keep in touch since grade 6. Encountering a psychotic killer Magical Girl who thinks killing others is 'saving' them. Gets saved by a Magical Girl from one of his dream adventures. Learning the truth behind Magical Girls and how they all eventually turn into the very monster they fight. Finding another Magical Girl who claims she's from the future and then she becomes the adoptive daughter of his parents and by extension his sister... He rolls his eye a little at that development, it's almost like his dream about Doraemon all over again. Although this time the event doesn't revolve around himself.

And speaking about his sister... he turns to have a good look at a slightly shaking Homura. It seems like his newly adopted sister doesn't fair too well after first day of school in Saigaku. "Are you alright there?"

"I'll be fine." Homura gives Nobita a quick glance as she goes back to staring at the ground. She doesn't look fine but it's pointless to argue with her at this point. Nobita can't help but feels like she's planning something. Hopefully it's not putting a cap into his head like what she does to the Incubators.

"Let's go meet Miyoko and others then." Nobita gives a shrug as he turns toward the gate of Saigaku Middle School. Right by the gate stands Miyoko whose eyes seem to be fixed on a bunch of students playing soccer.

For a brief moment Nobita wonders if it'll get awkward meeting Miyoko again consider how their last meeting ended. Surprisingly he doesn't feel any trepidation about talking with the Magical Girl. In a way, having Miyoko shares with him the secret of the Magical Girls makes Nobita feel closer to Miyoko. Even closer than his most friendly acquaintance Hidetoshi Dekisugi.

Nobita waves at the veteran Magical Girl to get her attention. "Yo! Miyoko! Here's me, and my sister Homura."

Miyoko snaps out of her trance and take a good long inspection at Homura while giving a warm smile. Although her sympathetic looking eyes betrays the true emotion she hides behind her friendly big sister mask.

Another 'sister' who will eventually join her, and all her other 'sisters' before her into becoming the fuel of the universe. That is the fate all Magical Girls share in the end.

_"So that's the Magical Girl who wants to talk with me. I don't want to pry, but I find it a little strange you didn't mention your sister being a Magical Girl when we had our little conversation a couple days back."_

_"Well... Homura is more like my very, very distant cousin from another city. She recently lost her folks and came into our family's care... and by 'recently' I mean last night."_ Nobita scratches the back of his head as he looks sideway when answering Miyoko's question. He can't help but feels like he's doing what Kyubey does: withholding certain detail to misdirect Miyoko into a lie.

_"She has my condolences."_

"Nice to meet you Miss Nobi. Your brother is a very compassionate person." For a second it looks like Miyoko is about to pull Homura into an embrace but the veteran Magical Girl extend her hand toward Homura in a friendly gesture instead. She probably realizes hugging a junior class man when she first met would come off weird to the other students, perhaps Homura's cold expression deters her original action. Homura doesn't look slightly interested in reciprocating the feeling to Nobita's surprise. In fact, for a quick second the raven haired time traveller almost look repulsed at Miyoko's gesture as her brows twist into a knot.

The moment becomes awkward for a second as Miyoko's hand simply extend outward with both of Homura's arms hanging by her sides. Nobita quickly steps forward, takes Miyoko's hand and give an exaggerated shake.

"Thank you very much for the compliment Miyoko. Sorry, my sister is a bit shy..." Nobita tries to squeeze out a smile. Although his smile looks very fake due to lack of practice. It's a good thing Miyoko doesn't seem to mind as she giggles at Nobita's effort.

"It's my fault for being over friendly with your sister." The veteran Magical Girl gives Nobita a reassuring smile as she looks at Homura. _"If I can take a wild guess... you are here to discuss how to divide our territory? That shouldn't be a problem as Saigaku is fairly big, and we recently have a massive influx of Witches to the point where I welcome the help from another Magical Girl."_

_"We'll discuss it once we meet the others."_ Homura sounds cold even through mental telepathy. Nobita doesn't understand why she is being so confrontational with Miyoko. Homura isn't what one calls socially adapt much like Nobita. She does seem to put some effort into being on friendly term with the other students in class. Nobita can't help but wonder why she is being particularly nasty with Miyoko when they just met. Could it be the veteran reminds of her someone she dislike from her own time?

_"Fair enough. I'd appreciate it if you don't try to harm any of the girls. I'd be willing to give you a large portion of the city to patrol if you really want it. There's enough to go around even for the four of us." _

"Can we make a stop at my house before we go?" Nobita asks Miyoko before she's ready to take the lead.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Well... we are going to meet Jaiko today right...? I promised her I'll get her... something. That thing is currently stuffed in one of my bottom draws in my desk up in my room..." Nobita scratches the back of his head while looking left and right. He notices Homura shooting him a suspicious look and gulp hard. Nobita really wants to keep his embarrassing attempt at making a manga secret from as many people as possible.

"Alright, we still got time. Lead the way Nobita." Miyoko gives Nobita a smile before side stepping away to let Nobita take lead.

／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

The detour back to Nobita resident wasn't that much of a problem. While Tamako isn't exactly happy about Nobita having to come home late, she's really happy that Nobita is finally being more social (and she seems to really like how polite and friendly Miyoko is). After a short search for his shameful display of both writing and drawing skills or the lack there of, Nobita and Homura continue their way towards Miyoko's home.

"We are meeting at my home... you said." Nobita hangs his head low and starts to take a keenly interest at his sneakers as he sighs in complete defeat.

"Well... it is my home. Is there something wrong?" Miyoko looks back and forth from Nobita to Homura. She tries her best effort to understand what gets Nobita so riled up.

"A 'home' is a two floor house with a small garden all the children need to worry about wasting an summer afternoon pulling out weeds for their parents." Nobita brings his head up as he extend out his left arm, pointing at Mangetsu 'resident'. "This... is a FUCKING MANSION!"

What Miyoko describes as her 'home' sits on the outskirt of Saigaku city. A three floor western style ivy covered brick mansion sits on the eastern side of the area that's probably larger than Saigaku Middle school surrounded by three meter tall wall. In front of the mansion, an Italian (or is it French? Nobita isn't too sure on this) style garden invites the guests to take an admiring look through the beautiful garden... in the summer. Since it's still February the garden look somewhat bleak with barely a shade of green let alone colourful flowers to decorate the vast open space. Even the fountain in the middle of the garden is not turned on.

In short, Miyoko's 'home' makes Suneo's home mansion he likes to boast so much about look like a beggar's shack.

"I'm... at a loss for words. Guess I'm being inconsiderate once again..." Miyoko looks over at her home and back towards Nobita again, giving the boy an apologetic look.

"No... it's not your fault. I'm over reacting because I'm surprised, that's all..." Nobita takes another good look at Mangetsu Mansion and notices a dome on the side of the mansion with a huge telescope sticking out towards the sky. "Wait a minute... your last name is Mangetsu. You father isn't Professor Hakase is he?"

Homura shoots Nobita a puzzling look before return back to the task of staring at Miyoko like a potato sprout suddenly grow out of her head. Nobita turns to Homura for a quick explanation. "He's a pretty famous astronomer for discovering a new comet."

"Well... yes he is. Lots of people are surprised at this because father is... well. He looks a bit too mature to have a daughter this young. I don't get it as bad as mother. Back then lots of people mistaken her for father's daughter." For a second Miyoko looks almost embarrassed before changing the subject.

Nobita feels a strong urge to slap himself in the face so hard his teeth will come loose. He should have recognized Miyoko's name and her costume when she changes into a Magical Girl. After all, he meets her in one of his dream adventures where they travelled to another planet to stop an army of demon from invading Earth. Maybe it's because in his dream Miyoko spend most of her time in the form of a pink cat (or is it a mouse? He can't recall the clear detail for some reason) due to a curse from the demon.

He should still recognized her. Although to be fair it never occurs to Nobita the people he meets from his dream adventures can be real. Maybe all of them are based on someone he meets in real life for a brief time yet somehow gets registered into his sub consciousness? It certainly make sense.

"Shall we go meet Jaiko and Iyo? They should already be in the training yard."

"I honestly feel like I don't belong in this place." Nobita mumbles under his breath as he tip toes pass the steel gate into the garden of Mangetsu Manor. He can't help but feels like there should be a security guard jump out of a hiding spot and ask him to leave Mangetsu Manor with his shabby everyday cloth. Or getting an arrow shot at his foot by a magically animated centaur statue like in his dream for that matter.

In a short distance the boy sees a middle aged woman with waist length blue hair wearing a white one-piece dress and a red apron doing some work with the garden. For a few seconds Nobita wonders if this woman is a gardener or one of the servants. The way this woman carries herself has a very confident air to it like she owns the place suggest otherwise.

"Welcome home, Miyoko. Are those two your friends from school? I don't remember seeing this fine gentleman and this young lady." The woman seems to notice Miyoko as she turns around towards them. She has a very inviting and friendly smile on her face just like Miyoko but Nobita feels something is wrong. Maybe it's how dull her eyes look. Her aqua colored eyes should by all means look beautiful but for some reason reminds Nobita of a pound of dead water.

"Yes, mother. They are my new friends Nobita, and Homura." Miyoko smiles at her mother after closing her eyes. Nobita raises his eyebrows at the veteran Magical Girl. Didn't she already said her mother is... dead? Is this woman a step-mother or something? The fact Miyoko seems to actively avoiding eye contact with her certainly suggest so. Although if that's the case... this middle aged woman seems to be friendly for a step-mother's standard.

"Oh, that's so nice of you two to visit my baby Miyoko. She's not bad tempered, or spoiled or anything if I do say so myself. Poor Miyoko was always busy with school work or other things and she barely has any time to make new friends. I hope you two will continue to be her friends and support her..."

"M, mother! You are embarrassing me..." Miyoko looks away into another direction while placing her hands over her face.

"Yes, yes of course dear. I'm so sorry about that. Oh, where's my manner. You find a place and get comfortable, I'll bring you something to drink." Miyoko's mother makes a light gasp as she quickly turns and walks towards the manor, taking off her dirt stained gloves on the way.

"So... that's your mother? I thought you said she was... well..." Nobita moves closer to Miyoko and ask the question that's hanging over his head in a low voice.

"Something I should know?" Homura's voice hit Nobita's ear like a sledgehammer fall onto a drum. The boy looks at Miyoko who gives him a reassuring look and a nod.

"Well, you see here Homura... before I met you... in person at our home, last night I mean... I met Miyoko here first. She told me her mother was a Magical Girl before her, and her mother died trying to protect her from a Witch. So Miyoko, was that your step-mother or something?" Nobita furiously turns back and forth between his sister Homura and the veteran Magical Girl Miyoko. He notices a dark cloud visibly forming on the face of his sister.

"That's not what it is." Homura's tone suggest she's not asking a question, but rather passing a judgement. Nobita can't help but makes a gulp sound in his throat as his sister stares Miyoko right in the eyes. The way the iron clad time traveller look at Miyoko reminds himself of an owl staring at an oblivious mouse before swooping in for a quick kill.

Nobita feels like those two are going to have a full power clash in the garden. He can't help but think he needs to dissolve the situation in some way so he waves both of his arms toward Homura trying to change the subject. "Don't be too judgemental Homura, you just met Miyoko here and..."

The boy feels a hand gently placing on his shoulder as he looks back. He meets Miyoko's warm smile. "It's okay Nobita. You don't live in the world of Magical Girls so you don't know... when a Magical Girl meets another it's not always friendly. I can understand why Homura gets so agitated with a Magical Girl who obviously keeps some big secret."

Nobita looks back at Homura once again. She doesn't look all impressed at how understanding and considerate Miyoko acts at her accusation. In fact, the raven haired Magical Girl looks even more annoyed if that's possible.

"Right... as I told Nobita before..." Miyoko looks around for a second as if making sure nobody is overhearing their conversation before continuing on with a low whisper like voice. "My mother was a Magical Girl before my time, and at some point she retired fighting Witches after she had me..."

Homura looks a little puzzled at Miyoko's choice of word as her eyebrow turns around at a different angle. Nobita can't help but be impressed at how his sister manages to convey her emotion by all the different ways she glum in silence.

"We were attacked by a Witch about three years ago when mother and I was out for a walk. Mother... didn't survive the battle. I would be killed too, but Kyubey appeared before me when the Witch was squeezing the life out of me... He asked me to make a wish and become a Magical Girl so I can fight for my life. Because I was being squeezed to death by the Witch, I didn't have a lot of time to think... I made the first wish came to my mind: I wanted my life return to normal. And my mother you just saw... that's mother's body, re-animated by my wish. She retained most of her personality, but has no memory about being a Magical Girl. I guess that's caused by my wish, I want my life to be 'normal' after all... are you alright here Nobita?"

"I, I'll be fine...humph... Just give me a second to, humph... get myself up..." Nobita manages to finish his sentence between gagging and dry heaps. He can feel his stomach acting up like yesterday when he learns the truth about Magical Girl from Miyoko. The boy does remember Miyoko talking about losing her mother when he first met her, but he didn't expect something like this: having your soul rips out of your body and places into a glass jewel for the reward of having your mother's corpse re-animated as a soulless doll. It is simply not fair. He starts to gain an understanding of Homura's intense hatred towards the Incubators.

The glasses wearing boy tries very hard to not puke all over Miyoko's home like he does to Saigaku Middle School rooftop. After a few struggles he manage to swallow back down whatever that's threatening to climb up his throat.

Nobita looks back up and realize Homura is no longer staring at Miyoko with an intense suspicion. She almost looks... sympathetic towards Miyoko's plight for the moment as Homura stares at her own feet in silence. Something seems to be moving in her purple eyes but Nobita is not sure if light is playing a trick on him. Surely it should takes more than something like this to shake up the stoic time traveller.

Then again... she does look pretty shake up after today's class so maybe she's more fragile than she appears. It is hard for Nobita to tell consider he mostly keeps to himself for the past 4 years.

"It's all in the past now. Even with my mother as she is... I guess I'm still grateful for what Kyubey did."

"You are grateful for the Incubators... for this." Any signs of sympathy in Homura's eyes is replaced by pure loathing as soon as she hears the veteran Magical Girl express her gratitude towards the Incubator. Nobita suppose he can't really blame his sister. It's only a moment ago where he's so appalled by what the Incubator does to Miyoko he almost puke all over the garden. Still, can't she be a bit more strategic in hiding it? Miyoko is sharing a very emotional part of her past with them and it doesn't help to be mean about no matter how justified you are.

"Yes I am. At least father never knew mother is gone... and he would also lose me on that day if wasn't for Kyubey. Regardless of his intention, I have to be grateful for what Kyubey did on that day." Miyoko faces Homura's stern glare with a weary looking smile.

"You are making a big mistake trusting in those abominations."

"Please don't mistaken my intention. I am grateful for what Kyubey did to me, but I don't trust him in the slightest. I'll do everything I can to persuade Kyubey's other prospects to reject his offer. Just like your brother."

"You will regret it."

"Maybe, I made a lots of mistakes in my life." Miyoko turns to give Nobita a look before turning back and walk towards the side of the mansion where a small patio lies. Nobita can see in the distance Jaiko and a girl with short hair is sitting around happily chatting.

"Homura." For a moment Nobita hesitate to reach out to his sister - Putting a bullet into the Incubators' head is an impression that'll keep anyone cautious afterwards. Taking a deep breath, he strengthens his resolve and grabs his sister by her shoulder and face her. "What's gotten into you? I'm not exactly a big booty social butterfly myself, but even I know you can't be all confrontational with someone you just met. Especially when she talks about something that must be so hard on her."

Homura seems to look puzzled at first. Nobita wonder what she's more surprised: the fact he has some social skill, or the fact he's brave enough to confront her about her lack of said skill. After a few seconds she finally murmurs under her breath. "I won't trust someone who's this friendly with an Incubator. Especially when she knows the truth..."

"You mean all of you eventually turns into an eldritch abomination and starts to hurt other people? Don't look surprised at me. Miyoko told me this before I met you. Why do you think I went to Saigaku 8th that afternoon? I was trying to clear my head after how much she messed me up with that revelation. But is that the only reason you are trying to enter a pissing contest with Miyoko, or is there something else you have against her? My parents are friendly with Fuzzybutt Deadpan McGee, but you trusted them to have them adopt you."

Once again Homura seems to look deep in her thoughts. Nobita choose to leave her alone for the moment and runs towards Miyoko. He doesn't want his sister and Miyoko to start their relationship on such a sour note and he'll have to push past his comfort zone and try to do something about it. "Miyoko!"

The veteran Magical Girl stops walking and turns around to look at Nobita. She looks as puzzled by Nobita's action as Homura a few moments ago.

"Listen... I'm sorry about how my sister behaved. She's going through a very bad period of her life... losing her parents and all that. Still, she shouldn't have acted the way she did consider how hard it must be for you to..." Nobita tries to keep going before Miyoko stops him with an embrace. His body tenses up at this as he can smell the cherry like scent from her hair. No girl has ever been this close to him, not even Shizuka.

_Damn it Nobita! Miyoko must be having one of the most emotional moment and all you can think of are perverted thoughts! Why are you acting like Hideo of all people at a moment like this!_

Nobita can feel his face burning up both from being anxious around a girl his age at such close distance and the shame such feeling brings him. Good thing Miyoko doesn't seem to notice.

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better Nobita, but there's really no need. I can't pretend I understand what your sister must be going through but I have a good idea. I went through the same thing after all. It's completely understandable why she would distrust, or even despise me after what I said." Miyoko releases Nobita from her embrace and lets out a chuck that sounds more like self-mockery than anything else. Nobita tries to say something to the veteran but she covers his mouth with her hand.

"You don't have to dress it up. After all we have our life manipulated and taken away by the Incubator with the promise of a wish... a wish that'll never live up to our expectation because of... 'entropy'. Yet here I'm saying how grateful I am for the action of the Incubators. It must feels like a slap in the face for your sister. But that's how I truly feel, and I think lying to your sister is even more disrespectful."

Nobita can't believe how understanding and considerate Miyoko is being. The third year just have Homura throw her saddest memory right back into her face yet she's more concerned about how Homura is feeling. It shames him even more at his previous dirty thoughts... Before another thought can come to him a purse flies right into his face knocking him on his butt.

"Are you making Mangetsu-San upset? Stupid Nobita!" The boy blinks his eyes trying to regain his composure. He searches the floor for his glasses to help him see better. He feels like he touches something warm and soft, like a person's hand before it quickly retreats away leaving the frame of his eyeglasses in his hand. Placing the glasses back onto the bridge of his nose he realize a girl roughly around Jaiko's age is hiding behind her while peeking her head out to look at him. She quickly slip back behind Jaiko when she realizes Nobita is also looking at her.

The girl has short hair with a red ribbon tying upwards from her hair like a rabbit's ears. Now that Nobita gets a good look at her, he realize that's the dead girl Jaiko and himself finds in the shrine on his first encounter with a Witch. "Hey, weren't you a little..."

_Dead?_

"The rude man... it's the rude man." Nobita can hear the shiver in the rabbit like girl's voice. He lets out a painful yelp as Jaiko slams her purse on his head once again.

"Alright stupid Nobita, what did you do to Iyo-Chan? How come she's so afraid of you?!" Jaiko gives Nobita a look of disgust as she turns back and embraces the young girl named Iyo. Nobita has to admit such look hurts him a little when Jaiko's face reminds him of Shizuka so much.

"Nothing, NOTHING! I was with you the only time we saw her, where she was..." Nobita stands up as he throws his arm around in frustration. It's one thing back in 4th grade when Shizuka gets annoyed at him because he actually done something bad, dumb or both. Having Jaiko making accusation at him based on assumption when he did nothing wrong is simply annoying.

"He's the rude man from my dream." Nobita, Miyoko and Jaiko turns their attention back towards Iyo.

"Your dream? Can you tell us a little about it Iyo?" Miyoko walks besides the two grade school girls and gently runs her hand behind Iyo's back.

"Right... It was a few days ago where I got back home after fighting with another one of those doggie like Witches... I got really tired so I fall asleep in the yard and I have a dream where I keep making origami figures. Then Jaiko and the rude man came to visit so I start playing origami fortune telling with them... A very polite man wearing tuxedo joins us. I think the rude man got angry and he shouted something mean to me. The tuxedo man is nice though. He even wished me a good night when I fall asleep in my dream. And when I woke up I find myself in the wood a short distance away from my home..."

Nobita looks up to see Miyoko gives him a confused look. He probably shares Miyoko's facial expression although for a different reason. In a kind of twisted... 'normal' way it's almost a re-telling of what happens on Monday night when he encounters the Origami fortune teller like Witch with Jaiko.

There's got to be some kind of connection. If only he can figure it out...

"Oh, silly Iyo-Chan. You must be really lonely with your grandpa if you even dream of playing with me. I missed you too! You are right though, stupid Nobita really is rude." Jaiko gives Iyo another embrace as she turns her head and poke her tongue out towards Nobita.

"Well... hard to argue with that..." Nobita lets out a defeated sigh as he shrugs at the situation. He should know from the start he can't win anything by arguing with Jaiko. Although in this case her giant of a brother is not a major factor.

To the boy's dismay, his embarrassment hasn't finish yet as his sister walks up to the group. She bends down and pick up the paper bag Nobita drops when he falls down and takes out its content - a hand draw 'manga'. "Big Galaxy Monster?"

In his distress Nobita jumps towards Homura and tries to make a grab at the small booklet she is reading. Homura dodges his attempt with a graceful sidestep causing Nobita to eat the cobble stone path. The time traveller frowns as she read through Nobita's homemade manga. "This is awful."

"Well... we can't all be perfect like Dekisugi now, can we..." Nobita lets out an undignified growl as he hisses through grit teeth. Maybe he is being overly harsh on his most friendly acquaintance consider the child prodigy never tries to write or draw a manga (In fact Nobita isn't sure if the boy likes manga or not)... but he's pretty sure mister perfect will be able to make a soundly designed and well drawn manga.

"Ha! So you kept your word and actually brings that garbage. I'm surprised you didn't burn it or throw it out with trash and makes up some excuse about you lost it." Jaiko lets out a loud laugh as she walks in front of Homura and holds up her hand. "Can I have it black long straight-San? Idiot Nobita promised to give it to me as a gift."

"Black... long straight-San?" Homura gives the girl a puzzling look.

"Yes. It's your hair. It's black, long and really straight. Reminds me of the night sky when I look up after a Witch hunt. It's really pretty!" Jaiko scratches her head while giving Homura an innocent looking smile. "I didn't get your name, black long straight-San."

"I'm Homura a... I mean I'm Homura Nobi." The time travelling Magical Girl looks like she bites her tongue for a second. To Homura's credit she manages to recover much quicker than that in the morning class.

"Nice to meet you Homura-San! Are you related to Nobita here?" Jaiko doesn't seem to even realize Homura's hick up as she turn to looks at Nobita.

"Yes, she's my sister and no, I don't mean it by blood. She's like my really, really, really distant cousin who happens to be adopted by my parents yesterday because she just lost her folks." Nobita lets out an annoyed grunt sound as he pushes himself up from the pavement another time. "Anybody else like me to repeat myself again? Anybody? Yes? No? Maybe? Good!"

"He he... I know you four years back so I know you have no sister. But if I didn't... I can't tell Homura-San aren't your sister. You two look like you are related when stand together. Homura-San doesn't look stupid, unlike you." Jaiko lets out a giggle as she suddenly grabs Nobita's homemade comic book out of Homura's hand. She quickly drags Iyo and run back towards the patio. "Don't let Nobita's stupidity infect you Homura-San! Stupidity is infectious, and incurable~!"

"Don't let Jaiko's antic upset you Nobita. I think you are a very sweet guy. You brought that manga you draw yourself to cheer Jaiko up didn't you? I know she's frustrated the manga she makes doesn't get published by the big publishers." Miyoko shakes her head as she gives Nobita a good pat on the shoulder.

"Well... sweet and naive and stupidity is the same thing. They are just different ways you say it out loud." Nobita gives another shrug as he turns towards Homura. "So, my dear sister. Any other insightful comment you want to add besides pointing out the obvious on how much I suck?"

Homura gives Nobita an annoyed stare with half closed eyes before turning towards Miyoko. "Miyoko Mangetsu... I been overly harsh with you back there. I want you to know I don't plan to be your enemy even if I don't fully trust you. As long as you don't plot with the Incubator against me."

"Don't worry about it. I don't trust those aliens either. As for not being my enemy... I never considered you to be one. If you want to take over my area you'd choose to attack my in surprise, not have Nobita introduces yourself to me." Miyoko gives Homura an understanding smile. "Now that's out of the way... I suppose you want to talk with me about how we'll divide our patrol area? That shouldn't be much of a problem. Like I said before Saigaku is having a major Witch infestation problem right now. Lots of familiars are turning into wolf like Witch very quickly, so even with four of us in this one city we will still be able to get enough grief seed."

"...Good to know." Homura looks taken aback for a second before regains her composure. "There's something more important."

Nobita looks back and forth between Homura and Miyoko. Homura's facial expression remains ever stoic. As for Miyoko... the friendly veteran's smile slowly fade and replaces by a serious look. "You don't mean... 1st of May."

"Yes. I am here to talk about Walpurgisnacht."


End file.
